


Just another Stray

by Horna



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drinking and Smoking, Friendship, Gen, Grown-up character turning into a child! You have been warned., Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Past Child Abuse, Mystery, Parental themes, mentions of;, mild swearing, more tags come with future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 51,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Horna/pseuds/Horna
Summary: When Nanu decides to interfere a battle between Guzma and Tapu Bulu, the results are something neither of them saw coming. Guzma gets turned back into a child and Nanu, with the kid-sized criminal now in his hands, feels obliged to help him. But is there anything they can do to cure Guzma's condition?While struggling to find a solution, the two of them also have to learn to put their differences aside in order to coexist under the same roof. Get ready for a dysfunctional family ride neither of them willingly hopped on!NOTE! This story contains a grown-up character turning back into a child! If this theme doesn't suit your taste, better turn back now.





	1. Time that went backwards

There was a soft clinging noise that came from his glass of whiskey as the ice cubes collided with each other. It wasn’t like he normally paid much attention on small details like this, but today the kahuna of Ula’ula Island would take any distraction offered from the more oppressive matters. He wasn't big on drinking hard liquors either, but he had had an extraordinarily rough couple of days so far. What on earth had he gotten himself into?

“I still blame you for this!”

Nanu screwed his eyes shut before he downed the full glass in one go. He needed to feel the burning alcohol fill him before he could even begin to answer the boy. In the back of his mind he knew he was right… At least partly. But it didn’t mean he had to own up to it.

After he swallowed, he let out a drained huff. “Don’t you go accusing me of this, boy. It was you who decided to meddle with the gods, not me.”

Sharp, gray eyes were drilling holes in him as Nanu finally looked up. And he immediately felt like he needed another shot. In his small living room, packed tightly on the corner of his sofa, was sitting Guzma. Or rather, a very tiny version of him. Nanu simply studied him for a brief second before he reached for his bottle again. It wouldn’t make this madness go away, but he could always try. He had been right there when it happened and he still doubted his own eyes.

In order to collect his thoughts, he ignored his company and tried to recap the events of the past two days. It had all started with him leaving for a small trip to meet the Ula’ula Islands Tapu... It was old Alolan tradition for the assigned kahuna to once a year offer a token of thanks to these sacred pokémon. Normally Nanu wasn’t a big fan of festivities and he suspected that Tapu Bulu felt the same. It had, after all, chosen to live in a desert maze, as far out of reach as possible. If that didn’t read “Leave Me Alone”, he didn’t know what would. So he usually let this duty slide, not bothering to bother the Tapu at all.

It all had changed this year however, after he accidentally blurted to Hala that he had never done this trip. The other kahuna had almost preached his ears off, leaving him with two displeased entities to calm. Nanu’s plan had been to drop by the ruins, leave a small bottle of sake for Tapu Bulu there and hope Hala would be satisfied with his efforts for the next 5 years or so. 

Two days ago he had finally left the comfort of his home and headed towards the Ruins of Abundance. The journey itself had started well, or as well as it ever could. It was common knowledge that Tapu Bulu lived in the mids of Haina Desert, one of the trickiest places you could find in all Alola.  
The desert itself was scorching hot, full of vicious, wild ground-type pokémon and it was extremely complicated to find your way there. Many trainers ended up lost and trapped there until rescued. To Nanu, navigating itself wasn’t a problem, he had figured out the key elements of the landscape long ago and knew his way to the ruins. With his trusty team by his side, he had shuffled his way through the giant sandbox with a remote ease. But little had he known, leaving the bottle for the Tapu ended up being the hardest part.

Nanu closed his eyes. Remembering everything that came afterwards as clear as day, he let himself drift into a flashback.

\--xx--

Nanu released a tired, but satisfied sigh as he saw the Ruins of Abundance growing closer in the distance. The burning midday sun was roasting him as he wiped a stray bead of sweat from his brow, happy that his mission was almost over and done with.  
He wasn't as young as he used to be and much more accustomed to the cooler climate they had in Po Town. A good rest inside the ruins after his desert hike sounded like a blessing right about now. Yet, even if he was feeling tired, seeing the ruins made a spike of excited energy rush through him. Hala and these traditions were a pain, but it had been years since he last time visited those sacred grounds. Weighing a bottle of sake in his hand, Nanu smirked to himself. Who knew, maybe he would even share a drink with Tapu Bulu, if it was present. He was actually looking forward meeting the old bullface again. 

His light thoughts came to an abrupt end as soon as he reached the entrance. A sound of furious screeching erupted from deep inside the ruins, followed by a tremor that shook the ground and making him halt his steps.

“What in the Giratinas name...?!” 

Not waiting for another earthquake, he forced himself to run, hurrying his way inside. Reaching the main room within minutes, he was greeted by a sight he definitely hadn't expected. In the middle of the temple was a on-going pokémon battle happening. That was the only notion he could make before a dark shape leaped through the midair and with crushing speed, landed on the ground. He barely had time to cover his eyes as a cloud of dust rose in the air, momentarily swallowing the whole room. The impact of this unknown attack caused a heavy rumble that yet again shook the whole temple ground. 

Squinting his eyes, Nanu tried his best to figure out what was going on. Or rather, who was attacking who? His vision was blurry, but he was able to make out a shape of bell-like creature slowly rising up. Tapu Bulu, Nanu thought to himself.

Before he could take this observation further, he was startled by a low, pleased hum that sounded really close to him. Jerking his head towards the voice, Nanu frowned as the figure of a man he knew well was revealed from the mids of the subsiding sand cloud. The guardian pokémon was fighting its hardest against one of the most stubborn and ill tempered trainers of all Alolan Islands, none other than the infamous boss of Team Skull; Guzma. The man was obvious of him entering the room however, his eyes fixed on the back of his star player. Golisopod looked tired, but it was nothing compared to the state of its opponent. Covered in dirt and scratches, Tapu Bulu was levitating close to the ground, its tail already dragging on the floor. It looked like it could barely hold itself up. Despite this, it let out a mighty roar before attempting to do a Giga Drain on its perpetrator.

Nanu felt a small shiver going through his spine as Guzma yelled a command and his Golisopod managed to avoid the attack. 

He was about to interrupt the battle and question the mans reasons for attacking the Tapu when he noticed an ultra ball Guzma held tight in his grasp. The gang leader was about to catch the pokémon. As Golisopod prepared to use Razor Shell, it hit Nanu. If the giant isobod actually landed its next strike, Tapu Bulu would loose. All in all there was nothing illegal, or even wrong in the situation. Tapus, even if seen as the protectors of the islands, were also wild pokémon. Any trainer was allowed to challenge and catch them should they be able to do so. Nanu knew this but… It still felt wrong. Somewhere deep inside him the idea of Tapu Bulu becoming someones possession lit an angry fire in him.  


Without even realizing it he threw a pokéball of his own, releasing his Sableye. The small, goblin-like creature entered the battle just in time, blocking Golisopods attack. The bugtype let out a surprised and somewhat frustrated whir when its attack didn't hit its mark, backing away. Trusting his team member to fend for itself, Nanu's full attention was aimed at the guardian spirit that was crouching on the floor. While its opponent was distracted, Tapu Bulu also turned its gaze towards him. For a brief moment, Nanu locked his eyes with the being that had once chosen him as the kahuna. After that, everything that followed happened so fast he barely even understood it. 

It took a second for Guzma to realize where the interference had come from. As the gang leader turned around, looking more furious than Nanu had ever seen him, it begun. Tapu Bulu was apparently very good at taking advance of given situations. Before even a single word left Guzma’s lips, the Tapu did… something. Giving out a bright glow, Tapu Bulu released white, blinding light that engulfed the whole room. It reminded Nanu of Grassy Terrain, but at the same time it was something entirely different. There was something mysterious in the air, a feeling of electricity that made his skin prickle. Feeling a heavy pressure hit him, the last thing he saw was the ceiling before he was knocked out of consciousness. 

When he woke up, Nanu had no idea how long he had been out. Still lying in the room, the first thing he noticed was the broken sake bottle, its content drenching his clothes. He released an audible groan. Great, it hadn't even been the cheap stuff either... Cursing under his breath, he somehow managed to sit up. There was no acute pain in his body, but his joints were feeling stiff as hell. Blinking slowly, he let his gaze wander around the room. Both his Sableye and Guzma’s Golisopod were there, knocked out and splayed on the floor. Tapu Bulu was gone, which didn't surprise him but... So was Guzma. 

Shaking his head, Nanu tried to make some sense in this. He didn't have a high opinion of the Skull Boss, but even he wasn't so rotten he would leave his pokémon behind. Right?  
Just when he was about to call his name, something picked his eye. Apparently blown further back in the room by the force of Tapu Bulu’s attack, was a small heap of clothing. They looked surprisingly empty, which confused him, but the Skull insignia on the back of the jacket was unmistakable. 

Trying his luck, Nanu yelled. His voice came out hoarse.

“You okay? Guzma!” 

There was no answer. The figure lying on the other side didn't even budge.

As the feeling of dread settled in, Nanu quickly retrieved his pokémon back to its ball. His vision swam from moving so fast, but he forced himself to his feet nevertheless and quickly made his way to the gang leader. The kahuna could tell even from the distance that something was wrong with him. But as he got to the guy, nothing could’ve prepared him for what had actually happened to the man….

\--xx--

 

“HEY! Geezer, I’m talking to ya!!”

Nanu was snapped out of his thoughts when a pillow landed on the right side of his head. It didn’t hurt, but it made him spill some of his drink on the counter. To prevent more liquid escaping, Nanu quickly put the glass down and gave a deep sigh. Knowing he couldn’t ignore him any longer, the old officer finally lifted his gaze back to his 'guest'. No matter how many times Nanu saw him, it still filled him with unfair amount of unease. Now standing up on his couch was indeed Guzma, literally fuming with anger. Or rather, approximately a 10-year old version him. Whatever power or trick... Or, hell, black magic the Tapu had used on them, it had turned the big and bad gang leader back into a child. 

After he had woken up and found Guzma like this, the only solution he had come up with was to carry the child home. From that moment on his mind had been racing with questions, but no answers were yet to surface. Who knew Tapus could even do such things?

The boy had been unconscious for the rest of the evening and had only woken up late in this afternoon. It had been both a blessing and a curse for the kahuna. On one hand he had started to really fear the boy wouldn’t ever wake up again. Seeing him stir back to life had been a huge relief to Nanu, but after realizing what had happened to him… Let’s just say the boy hadn’t taken it too well. There had been almost an hour long stream of cursing, yelling and half-panicked temper tantrums from the kid. Nanu had managed to calm him down not too long ago, after he had promised to make Tapu Cocoa for him. Lots of it.

The fact Nanu still hadn’t answered him seemed to tick Guzma off even more. It manifested in a form of another pillow, again aimed at the officers head. This time Nanu was able to dodge it, leaning out of the way as it flew across the room. Landing with a soft 'thud', it still managed to scare off few of his Meowths that were lying in the room, napping.  
Normally he wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior in his house, but right now he felt like he deserved it. Besides, pillow wasn't the worst thing the kid could've picked to throw at him. 

Raising his eyebrows in question, he coaxed the boy to repeat himself. Guzma gave him an evil eye, before plopping back down and crossing his arms. He was wearing Nanu's old t-shirt and a pair of plain shorts the kahuna had found from the 'Lost and Found'-box. The shirt was a lot smaller than Guzma's own, but he still looked like he had a small tent wrapped around his tiny torso.

“I said, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t interrupted us! And they’re not gods, just pokémon!”

Nanu scowled at him. He had a question of his own, already thought out and burning in his mind. “Why would you even try to catch a Tapu in the first place? You know how important they are for the people of these islands.”

Guzma just snorted at him, trying to look as arrogant as possible. He knew better than taking his bait, but Nanu wasn’t completely able to keep the irritation out of his voice. 

“… I mean it boy. Some folks might have gotten really heartbroken for having their guardian spirit taken away.” 

Guzma just raised his brow at him.

“Who? People like you? Is that why you stopped me from catching it?”

Leaning slightly towards Nanu, Guzma put a finger under his eye and trailed it down slowly, as if he was shedding a tear. Feeling pressure rising to his temple, Nanu tried to massage his upcoming headache away. No matter how small, Guzma seemingly had always had the talent of riling up people. 

“You really don’t know how to pick your fights, do you now?” With this comment he was referring both to himself and the Tapu Bulu alike. Guzma, however, seemed to pick only the latter and he gave him a defiant pout.

“Like said, I wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t interrupted. This is your fault, so fix it!”  
The comment was thrown in the air with such confidence, it was like Guzma thought there was no room for argument. 

Nanu, on his own part, had to take a double look on the boy for his bold demand. The kid was staring cockily at him from the couch, like he had the upper hand. In the end this summoned an actual laugh out of the officer. 

Guzma furrowed his brow, but waited until Nanu managed to stop his wheezing. Wiping a stray tear from his cheek, Nanu finally huffed. 

“Kid, even if this was remotely my fault, I have no idea how to ‘fix it’. You’re on your own with this one.” 

The look on Guzma’s face went from confusion to anger and settled on disbelief. He sputtered. While trying to find his words to answer Nanu’s flat-out denial, the kahuna looked at the clock on his wall. Ten past eight, time to feed his Meowths. 

Nanu slapped himself on the knee before rising to his feet. Leaving the young delinquent sitting alone in his living room, he wandered to his kitchen. Idly he started digging though his cabinets for cat food, making a ruckus on purpose. And sure enough, the familiar sound soon lured five out of his pack of eight to his side. Nanu almost sighed in relief as the way his Meowths kept mewling and pushing his feet immediately helped him relax.It was working way better than his drink anyway.  
Unfortunately his peace of mind was short lived. While he shoveled pellets in one big bowl, he heard how small foot steps came closer to the kitchen, stopping near the doorway. Ignoring this, he worked as if he was obvious of being stared at, having no hurry to feed his pets.  


The silent glaring continued, the boy wasn't giving up. Nanu didn't expect the kid to vanish, but his whole... Presence was starting to wear him down. He wasn't sure how long he could take his rude comments and annoying attitude on top of all that had already happened. 

Finally Guzma got fed up and stated accusingly. “You’re a cop. Aren’t cops supposed to help people?”

Nanu lowered the bowl on the ground. He ended up addressing the kid with his gaze still fixed on the floor, watching his Meowths attack the meal he had served. 

“Well kiddo, cops are also supposed to catch criminals, but there you and your gang are.”

This earned him an audible whine. Guzma was growing impatient, he could tell. 

“…Someone once told me you used to be a secret agent, or something.”

Nanu shrugged. It was unnerving to hear there were rumors like that going around about him. But if Guzma believed it, there was no point in trying to deny it. He was stubborn, after all. 

“It was a long time ago, but uhh... Something like that” He wouldn't use a word 'secret agent', but it was close enough. 

“Then you must know how to solve cases!” Guzma tried. 

Nanu noted how his voice was rising to even higher pitch. There was a hint of desperation, which made Nanu ponder his words. It was true he had past experience in solving crime and doing the detective work, so in theory Guzma's suggestion wasn't bad thinking. There really might be some clues Nanu could dig up if he put in the effort. But the biggest problem he had with this whole ordeal was simple; he didn't like the guy. 

Guzma had caused enough grief in his day to deserve all the bad karma that came his way. Maybe this would finally teach him the lesson he needed. And besides, dealing with kids had always been too much hassle to his taste. 

Not giving up, Guzma still went on. “You can’t do this old man! You have to help me!”

Coming silently to his conclusion, Nanu stared at the kid for a while, and then, mimicking the boy from earlier, put his finger on his cheek and slowly made the crying gesture. Guzma had no witty come-back to this, he just gaped dumbly at him.  
Nanu knew it was petty to tease him like this, but he needed to unwind his own frustration as well and this was doing the trick nicely. Besides, it served the brat right, trying to guilt trip others to do his bidding for him. 

He was about to give the kid another jab, hoping he might even leave his home if he was rude enough. But before he could release his sass, something caught his eye. It was very subtle, but the boy’s lower lip was quivering. This stopped Nanu on his tracks and instinctively he fixed more observant gaze on the boy. And sure enough, the kahuna found out he was giving off more signs of distress. Guzma was shifting his balance from one foot to another, shivering so lightly it was almost unnoticeable. With one hand he was taking support from the door frame while the other was clutching the fabric of his shirt tightly. Even his eyes, no matter how observant, had glassiness in them.

Nanu cursed inwardly. The kid had been faking it. 

All the guilt he had been able to push back earlier by getting angry with the boy came back like a flood, nearly drowning him. Nanu had always considered the Guzma in his twenties to be a kid, because in comparison, he was. Now, standing in the dim light of his kitchen, wearing a shirt way too big for him and holding back tears, was a real child. What ever Tapu Bulu had done to him, that much was certain. And as an adult, he was expected to take responsibility. Not only by Guzma, but by the courtesy of common sense. Coming terms with reality, Nanu knew what he had to do. It didn't matter if he liked the Skull Boss or not, he didn't have the luxury of turning him away. 

Heaving a deep sigh, Nanu closed his eyes and prepared himself for a ride he wasn’t ready to hop on. Curse his soft heart and still-existing sense of justice. 

“Fine,” he let the word out with his breath.

This sudden change of heart made Guzma freeze. While he stared at him like he had spoken in a foreign tongue, Nanu gave him a tired but firm look.

“I’ll… try to figure something out. But I can’t promise you anything, boy. I’m not a miracle worker.”

His half-assed promise for assistance seemed to be enough for the kid however. Not being able to mask it, a relieved, almost goofy smile engulfed Guzmas face. It only lasted for a second, before he caught himself and quickly sobered up. Clearing his throat, he tried to cover his earlier panic with though-guy act. 

“Yeah? That's what I thought! I…”

The warning glare Nanu gave him made Guzma shut up before he could start a new tirade. At least he was wise enough to actually zip it. 

They stayed silent for a while.

“So... What about that Tapu Cocoa you promised?”

\--xx--

Hours later, after Guzma had had his cocoa and settled to sleep on his couch, Nanu still rolled in his bed, wide awake. He was so tired it almost hurt, but he couldn't sleep. Looking through his bedroom window, he watched as the first droplets of rain hit the glass softly. There was going to be a storm tonight. Probably a big one, too. They hadn't had any real storms in a while...

He sighed. He was trying to think anything else than the matter in his hands and yet... One question relentlessly popped back, refusing to let go.

What on earth had he gotten himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Phew, that was the first of many chapters I've planned! This is my first attempt on writing a story with multiple chapters and deeper plot. I'm actually very excited about it! ovo
> 
> I hope you enjoyed your read and come back for the future chapters as well. 
> 
> Comments are very appreciated. ^^


	2. Investigate the impossible

“Can you describe me the incident and how this happened to you?” 

Nanu rested his elbows on a wooden surface, fingers tangled together. They were sitting in his small office, him behind his work desk and Guzma seated on a chair in front of him. To his small embarrassment, the room looked like a tornado had swept through it- a dusty on at that. All his personal work tools were scattered around, clearly unused. His greatest fear was the cup of months old coffee. He still hadn’t dared to peek inside to see what kind of growth was going on in there. 

All in all, the setting wasn’t really professional, but to his own defense, it wasn’t fully his fault the room was unused. There hadn’t been any serious criminal activity going on in his island for a long time. Something worthwhile to investigate, like actual schemes by actual criminals. Because in all honesty, Team Skull didn’t count. The gang might manage to do something annoying every once in a while, but most of the time those kids couldn’t even grab pokéballs from their own pockets. Nanu wasn’t interested in a bunch of juvenile punks and their need to steal Bus- signs. So, as a police officer, Nanu was almost as good as retired. Not that he complained, though. 

“… You were right there with me. Why would you even ask?”

At least the Spinaraks were happy to use this space, Nanu mused as he stared at one strikingly large cobweb on the farthest corner of the ceiling. Turning his attention back to Guzma, he stated drily. 

“Humor me. I may have been in the scene, but when Tabu Bulu’s attack hit us, nothing happened to me or our pokémon.”

This poked a small laugh out of the boy. “Yeah, you sure didn’t get any younger, gramps!” Considering the situation he was in, Nanu thought he found this funnier than he should have. Before he could release his groan, the kid went on. 

“Is this an interrogation?

“Yes.” He spoke it through his teeth. It really wasn’t, but his patience was wearing thin and he hoped to scare some sense in Guzma. He had tried to question him for almost fifteen minutes now, but all he could get out of him were snide remarks and other nonsense. 

But even if this all had been games for Guzma up to this point, it also validated something for Nanu. Guzma was being uncooperative, but in a childish way. There was no glaring, swearing or other menacing gestures. He wasn’t defying him in a “gangly” manner. To Nanu, this was a last proof he hadn’t gotten younger just physically, this all had also taken effect on his mind. He was currently acting and answering like an actual 10-year old kid. A bratty one but still a child. 

“Why?”

“Would you just tell me how it felt when Tapu Bulu’s attack hit you?” 

There was a short silence. 

“…One more question?”

“Hmmph, shoot.”

“Are you the bad cop or the worst cop? It’s kinda hard to tell.” If Guzma could’ve looked more smug with his remark, his face probably would’ve split.

That was it, he was done. There had to be a line where this nonsense ended. If the kid didn’t want to give away even the simplest thing, who was he trying to help him? Plus Guzma had a horrendous sense of humor, Nanu decided. 

“Neither, I’m the ‘over and out’ one. Since you can’t cooperate even when this matter touches you on a personal level, my hands are tied.” 

With that, Nanu slammed the thin notebook he had chosen for this case shut and stood up. 

He could feel Guzma staring his actions, but didn’t move from the chair. Even when he marched to the door and flicked the lights off, the boy didn’t budge. This suited Nanu just fine, if he wanted to sit alone in a dark room, he could do that to his hearts content. 

Just when he was about to leave, there was a sigh and defeated mutter.

“Wait.”

Nanu didn’t move from the doorway, but gave the kid a gaze over his shoulder. Raising his browns, he waited what was to come.

“I can’t tell you what happened ‘cuz… I don’t remember much.”

This wasn’t exactly surprising for the kahuna. It was a little disappointing, but he hadn’t expected much from this lead. But Guzma went on.

“I mean, I don’t even really remember the fight. Like, I know I was there and all but… The details get weird and foggy, like it was a dream. The only clear things in my head is almost defeating Tapu Bulu and then… You. You tried to stop me and then I woke up like this.” 

Nanu observed the boy for a minute, digesting his words. Was he really telling him the truth or was he trying to shove the responsibility of the incident on his shoulders again? Like the boy said, he had tried to stop him and afterwards scolded him for it. Despite his earlier sass, maybe he really thought it wasn’t allowed for trainers to try and catch these pokémon?

Testing the grounds, Nanu turned around. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he leaned against the doorframe. 

“You’re not in trouble, you know. For attacking the Tapu Bulu I mean.”

Guzma gave him a nasty glare. 

“I knew it! I knew you wouldn’t believe me…”

Huffing in frustration, he continued, but it was like he was talking more to himself than his company.

“This is why it’s always pointless to talk with grown ups. They just make up their mind and after that, it doesn’t matter what you say. They decide what was right and think you’re lying when you don’t give them what they want to hear. Their truth.”

When Nanu had asked Guzma to describe the incident, he had just wanted to hear his side of the story. He himself didn’t have any memory of what happened after the attack, he was out cold before he even hit the floor. But this comment, he actually found slightly interesting, if for another reasons. 

Stepping back in the room, he cocked his head a little. “Then why do you think they ask questions?”

Guzma just shrugged.

“I dunno. So they can justify what punishment to give to rotten, lying kids? ‘Cuz good kids don’t lie.”

For a moment, Nanu was washed over with a feeling of unease. Silently gauging the kid, he was trying to make something out of this explanation. Could it be he had gotten cold shoulder from adults so often that he really had this little faith in them? Then again, Guzma was a troubled person. Maybe he was exaggerating things to spark sympathy? 

Team Skull in itself was a bunch of gangly teenagers, more huff and puff than anything else. Sly, manipulative behavior was mostly above their brain cells. But this didn’t necessarily apply to their leader that Nanu knew from experience. He was rude and prone to violence, but…Underneath the surface lied something more than just a thug. Certainly not criminal mastermind, but he wasn’t completely dull either. One couldn’t hold up a gang with desperation and muscle only, Guzma did have other qualities too, as a leader. 

For these reasons, it was hard for Nanu to think of him just as a misunderstood individual.  
Relenting, he decided it didn’t matter if he was telling the truth or not. For now, he would just go with the flow and see what else unfolded.

“I believe you.” He offered easily.

He waited for a reply, but didn’t receive one. Guzma stayed silent. Moving on, Nanu clapped his hands together.

“So, if we can’t get any further down this line, I guess we better focus on this moment.”

Finally Guzma glanced him, giving a dry sniff. The way he regarded the officer was filled with suspicion. 

“What do you mean?”

“Your gang. Someone must be informed, you know, before they start looking for you. They’re pretty thick, but even they will notice their boss is missing, no?”

Brows furrowing, he seemed to think what Nanu told him through before giving him a small nod.

“I want Plumeria.”

It wasn’t exactly what he had said, but the way he worded his request. Smirking, Nanu couldn’t help but tease. “You sure you want your girlfriend to see you like this? You’re not exactly the manliest guy around at the moment.”

As he predicted, the kids reaction was fast and exaggerated. He turned to face him with such speed he almost fell from the chair. Staring owlishly at him, like he had lost his mind, the boy barked in anger. 

“S-shut up you old fart! She ain’t my girlfriend!”

Nanu just sniggered, but in his mind he knew Guzma had made the right call. Out of that toolbox, she was the sharpest thing for sure. The said admin of Team Skull wasn’t just bright, she was also so calm and collected it bordered cold bloodedness. If anyone, she probably would take this situation even better than Nanu had. As a cherry on top, she was loyal to boot to her ‘Boss’, she could be trusted not to spill anything about what had happened. 

Nodding smoothly to Guzma, Nanu agreed.

“A’right, I’ll send a Meowth to fetch her.” 

“…What?” The kid gave him a weird look. 

Not bothering to answer, Nanu just walked out of the room. Soon he heard the chair scraping the floor and the kid jogged next to him.

“A Meowth? How is she going to know she has to follow that thing here?”

Nanu gave him a mysterious look from the corner of his eye.

“You’ll see.”

 

\--xx--

 

Squinting his eyes, Nanu finished the last letter with his dying ballpoint pen. He was holding a small piece of paper in his hands. With neat handwriting, Nanu had written a note for Plumeria, kindly requesting her to come meet him at the Station. 

By his side was sitting one of his Meowths, lazily licking its paw. He was lucky this particular one was visiting home, as it liked to spend majority of its time scouting the area and getting into who knows what kinds of adventures. It was the only one of his pack he could trust with a task like this. 

Folding the note, he proceeded to add whom it was for. Nanu could understand why Guzma had so little faith in this. Originally even he had gotten the idea of sending messages with a Meowth by accident, really.  
Some time ago, there had been a small sea accident on route 15. A raft full of tourists had had a collision with some unlucky guy riding his Sharpedo, sinking their boat as a result. His Station being the closest, the unhappy crowd had showed up on his doorstep, asking for help and his advice to solve who was accountable for the accident. There hadn’t been any real casualties, but the Sharpedo had suffered a minor injury. Lucky for the kahuna, Acerola had been visiting him that day. With Nanu having his hands full, she had volunteered to go shopping for healing supplies so they could take care of the injured pokémon as well. It wasn’t until she was gone that Nanu realized he hadn’t told her what to bring. Scribbling a quick note, he gave it to this particular Meowth, sending it after her. To his surprise, the feline successfully completed his request and ever since it had served as his messenger for small things like this. It had not failed him yet.

Satisfied with his note, Nanu bent down and offered the small piece of paper to the Meowth. It gently bit down and took it in its mouth. 

“…I still think this is a dumb idea.”

Guzma was leaning against the doorframe with a look of boredom and irritation mixed in his face.

“Hmmh, everyone’s a critic…” Nanu hummed quietly to his cat-like pokémon.

At least he’d gotten a small satisfaction earlier when the kid had been genuinely impressed with his partner. Being able to carry his messages for him was nice, but that wasn’t the only thing that made this particular Meowth very special.

Nanu had seen a few shiny Meowths in his day, but even those couldn’t rival this specimen in beauty. Dark, soft spots were splayed all over its fur, like someone had skillfully spilled ink dots all over its body. The result was absolutely adorable.  
Nanu had become his proud owner few years ago, when someone had just dumped it on his doorstep. Underweight and poorly taken care of, he had nursed it back to health. To this day it enraged him that some trainers could do something like that to their own companions. Pokémon did offer their trainers unconditional love, in Nanu’s mind this deserved at least some level of respect in return. 

From a battling point of view, he could somehow understand why it got abandoned. It was really tiny for its kind, a real runt of the litter. Not all trainers saw the special traits of their pokémon as a good thing, they couldn’t be bothered to learn how to use them to their advantage. Well, even if its previous owner had been a real jerk, Nanu had gained himself a loyal and smart team member. It was more than welcome in his pack.

Smiling at the thought, Nanu gave it a quick rub behind the ears before sending it off. 

“Go on Soot, I need you to go in the mansion and bring Plumeria here. She’s the bright haired girl with a scary face.”

After receiving his instructions, the Meowth gave its whiskers a graceful swipe and got up. Together Nanu and Guzma watched as the small feline padded off and steered straight towards Po Town. Feeling a little smug, Nanu gave Guzma an expecting glance. 

“And now, we wait.”

Still looking unimpressed, the kid just slipped back inside, rolling his eyes as he went. Nanu could hear a muffled ‘dumb’ as he vanished.

Despite Guzma’s lack of faith, his note seemingly had worked its charm. It took about 15 minutes before Plumeria showed up. Nanu could recognize her ramrod straight figure storming towards his Station even from the distance. Hanging his Meowth under her arm, she was also ‘armed’ with her Salazzle. The kahuna felt a small bead of sweat rising to his temple, the look on her face promised murder. Or the very least extreme violence. Even the poison type that trailed just behind her legs gave Nanu a vicious glare that rivaled her owners as they arrived.

Nanu tried to raise his hand for a small, casual hello, but the seething admin wouldn’t have it. As soon as she was in close range, she pointed an accusing finger to his face. 

“Where is he?” she hissed. 

“Easy there girlie, no need to bite my head off.” 

Watching how the Salazzles tail whipped the ground near its trainers sneakers, he felt necessary to add: 

“Or drown me with Toxic, which ever comes more naturally to you.”

Pleased that she had cornered her enemy, Plumeria rested her free hand on her hip and visibly relaxed a little. Her eyes, however, still had the cold, steely quality.

“Oh, excuse my attitude, but sending threat notes is not the way to win over my good side.”

“… I wasn’t trying to threaten you. Just stating the facts as they are.” Nanu cocked his head.

Plumeria squinted at him, before fishing his now crumbled note from her pocket and read it out loud.

“It says here; ‘I have your Boss, come alone if you know what’s best for him’. Sounds a lot like a threat to me.” She eyed him accusingly.

Nanu just shrugged.

“Poetry’s never been my game, that’s why I became a cop. I get to write statements, not literature.” It was a total lie, but he’d have his chuckles out of the younger generation whenever it was available. Plus he had needed some excuse to make certain she would come alone. Well, as certain as one ever could be, in the worst-case scenario he would have ended up with the whole gang on his doorstep. Lucky that wasn’t the case.

Her frown started to melt into a surprise. “So… He’s not, like, in a cell or anything? Hanging shackled from the ceiling?”

Wondering briefly what the girl thought he was doing with criminals, out loud Nanu gave her an easy: “Nope.”

After receiving this clarification, the look of annoyance came back to her face. This time there was a hint of tiredness mixed in, too.

“Well, where is he then? Why did I have to come here to personally pick him up?”

This was it, Nanu mused, the best part was about to unveil. Carefully, he fidgeted. Immediately there was small hiss from the Salazzle, it was closely observing his every movement. After the kahuna gave her a sheepish look, Plumeria relented and finally called it back to its ball. 

Without any further ado, Nanu let her in on the situation. “See for yourself.” 

Stepping away from the doorway, behind his back was standing the tiny leader of their criminal enterprise. Plumeria’s brows knit in confusion, before Guzma opened his mouth.

Giving her almost a shy glance, Guzma raised his hand for a greeting. 

“Hey Plumes…”

To her credit, she didn’t scream. She didn’t even squeal. But she did gape and drop Soot on the ground. Quickly gathering his Meowth in his arms, Nanu kept a close eye on Plumeria’s face. It was refreshing to see the normally glum admin wear other expressions than cynical boredom or anger. But eventually, even that got old. After two minutes of observing the finest of Team Skull, Nanu got bored. Stepping back inside, he waved them off lazily. 

“I’ll go and make some coffee. You kids sort this out.”

It proved to be the right choice. As soon as he was out of the way, he could hear Plumeria’s voice bloom. It held a slightly frantic tone, but at least she wasn’t panicking or yelling. Soon Guzma joined in too, likely trying to explain the situation the best he could. Or that’s what he imagined, Nanu couldn’t really hear what they were saying while preparing the beverage. He was pouring a full pan, he had a feeling Plumeria might need it. Too bad he was out of whiskey.

While he was at it, he also put a kettle on the stove. Might as well make the cocoa now, caffeine was off-limits for the kid.

 

\--xx--

 

After he had everything set up, Nanu went back outside to gather his guests. He found them standing where he had left them, engaged in awkward silence. Ushering everyone inside, they soon fond themselves seated in a small circle in Nanu’s living room. Plumeria and Guzma had taken over his couch, while the kahuna dragged a chair from the kitchen to sit on. The only thing separating them was a coffee table, which was now pleasantly occupied with snacks. Nanu had felt generous and even put out biscuits there for taking. 

“What are your terms?”

With the steaming cup of coffee in her hands, Plumeria aimed a sharp look at him. Now that she had had time to mull this over, there were no signs of distress on her features. Nanu was a little jealous how calmly she was able to handle even the most impossible things that got hurled in her way. It was a rare talent, Guzma had found a real gem for himself.

Turning his gaze back to his own cup, Nanu thought about it. In all honesty, this hadn’t even crossed his mind yet. The past three days had went by with him getting used to the fact he now had a kid-sized criminal in his hands. 

Judging his silence wrong, Plumeria started to explain herself. 

“We all know he can’t come back to the mansion like this. If you’re investigating his case, I assume Guzma will be staying with you?”

Short and on the point. 

Taking a small sip from his mug before answering, Nanu voiced his opinion. “I’m not a fan of the idea, but I also think it’s best for Guzma to stay. At least for now.” Scrunching his nostrils, he went on.

“But I’m not made out of money and the kids got to eat.” See, he could also stay on point.

A brief silence followed this. While listening them talk, Guzma was stuffing his face with the biscuits and downing them with cocoa. His sugar intake was slightly worrying Nanu. If the kid ended up sick and barfed, he would clean his mess himself that much was certain. 

Meanwhile it looked like Plumeria was doing some hard thinking. Quickly giving a worried glance to Guzma’s direction, she admitted: “I can’t offer you much…We have been falling back on pretty much everything lately. We barely manage to feed the whole team as it is.”

Nanu had small sympathy for this. They were runaways as the situation was, getting at least one decent meal a day would do them good. He thought about this for a while.

“How about this, as long as he stays here, I won’t pay you the rent? “

Yes, as ridiculous as it sounded, Nanu actually paid Team Skull a small amount of rent every month. Their deal was that he could stay and the gang wouldn’t harass him, while he also had ‘access to their premises’. In reality, Nanu could kick their behinds to next Tuesday if he had to, but he had always guessed the real reason behind their demand for money. 

Plumeria seemingly was appreciative of his offer. A small, relieved smile passed her lips.  
“That’s… not a bad idea, actually.”

“But I won’t be buying any clothes. Not because of the money, I just don’t want to go through that hassle. I’ll make sure the kid has a roof over his head and meals to eat, can you manage to get something that fits him? For once, he is too small for his own good.”

Blinking, the admin gave Guzma another look, this time regarding his figure. She was completely ignored by her boss, he just absently slurped from his mug. 

“Yeah, I think so. He’s a bit too tiny for the clothes grunts have, but we have some crewmembers working part-time in Malie. I’m sure I’ll… get a good discount.” 

Nanu just nodded, deciding to erase that last part of information from his memory. As long as he didn’t need to put in the effort…

“What about his pokemon? They need to eat, too.”

The girl was trying to be considerate. It was sweet, even if he found her fussing a bit amusing. Nanu had already counted Guzma’s team to be part of the package. But now that she mentioned it, it occurred the kahuna that there might be some cuts that had to be made. 

Nanu pondered this for a second, before coming to a conclusion. “He can keep three.”

Guzma, who up to this point had been surprisingly quiet, stirred back to life. With a baffled look on his face, he stared at them like someone had just slapped him.

“NO! No freaking way! I won’t give my team away!” His retort was loud and clear, but to empathize his point Guzma slammed his fist on the armrest. 

This flared a small spark of annoyance in Nanu. The kid had already harassed him enough for one day while he had tried to question him earlier. It made him grunt grouchily: “This is a small Station as it is, boy. Your pokémon can’t stay in their balls all day and there’s no way we can comfortably fit everyone inside. “

He also didn’t feel comfortable with Guzma having access to his full team while staying in his home. Not that he was afraid the kid could beat him if there was a tight situation, he was mostly worried for his Meowths. If he suddenly allowed too much disturbance to their territory, who knew what might happen. He wasn’t about to renovate his whole house because one unnecessary fight turned into a war inside his home. 

“I’ll go and take them out every day!” Getting more frantic, Guzma was now spilling cocoa on his couch. 

“That’s until the rain hits us hard…” he thought to himself. On the outside, Nanu just raised three fingers in the air.

“You get to keep three and that’s final. Choose wisely kiddo, although I guess you can rotate them if you wish to see all of them while staying here. That’s up to your admin and how many trips she’s willing to make, thought.” 

This was followed with a short, yet fierce staring match between the two of them. Eyes burning and brows furrowing dangerously, Guzma was breathing heavily through his nostrils. Nanu knew that look from day one the kid had woken up. He was about to throw an all-out hissy fit. 

Before it could happen, the kahuna was saved by a unexpected ally. Swiftly, Plumeria laid both of her hands on Guzma’s shoulders, grounding him. It could be that she either recognized these signs also or that was some kind of womanly instinct, Nanu couldn’t help but wonder. The boy immediately snapped his head towards her, but already his anger was subsiding. He was looking more worried than anything else. Offering him a small smile, she spoke in a calm, gentle manner.

“It’ll be okay Guzma, I’ll take care of them, personally. I promise.”

Seemingly her tiny, but caring smile and kind touch was enough to calm the upcoming storm. Now, Nanu had been joking when he had called Plumeria his girlfriend at first, but… He wasn’t so sure anymore. Well, whatever it was, it was safe to say that they were close. If he ever needed anyone to babysit the brat, he had found his go-to girl.

“But, Plumes… I can’t give them away.” he whined.

“You’ll get to see them all. I’ll stop by as often as I can. Deal?”

There was a silence. Guzma was probably feeling a little betrayed with Plumeria agreeing with Nanu. Trying to reassure him further, she sighed.

“I know you don’t like this, I don’t either. But this is the best we can negotiate. The sooner you guys fix this mess, the sooner you can come back and things get normal again. You want Nanu to help you, right?”

He wasn’t looking happy about it, but finally Guzma relented.

“…Deal.”

Looking the kahuna in the eyes, they exchanged glances. Nanu just nodded at the girl, if she was willing to make it work, it was okay with him. It didn’t really matter which three pokémon Guzma had, as long as the number of them stayed the same. 

Now that he had opened his mouth, the next question came from the kid.

“What if somebody sees me?”

… That actually was a good one. The fact he was hosting a kid wouldn’t go unnoticed forever. Someone ought to get curious.

For the first time, Nanu fixed an observing eye on him, taking in his features.

With his hair tangled and crumbles littering his face, Guzma’s over all appearance was rather unkempt. The kid was definitely scrawny and his ill-fitting clothes only managed to emphasize this fact. His hair in its natural state was as black as midnight and stuck out wildly in all possible directions like a Lycanroks mane, adding a feral touch in him. The most distinctive features were probably his sharp eyes and dark circles around them. His nose, which was still prominent, Nanu assumed had broken few times while growing up as it was still missing its crooked quality. Even when he was sitting, Guzma had his shoulders hunched, his posture just as bad as it normally was. This made it hard to guess his actual height, but Nanu was pretty sure he was tall for his age.

Clicking his tongue, he made up his mind.

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t think anyone will recognize you. You have some resemblance, but with a black hair I think we’re safe.” It was also a good thing that their situation was so out of this world. It probably wasn’t even possible for anyone to guess this child was Guzma.

Plumeria was still looking thoughtful. “What do you think he should call you? I mean, it’s probably best I give the grunts some kind of heads up there’s a kid living with you now. Just in case.”

Nanu didn’t see a problem here. “He can use ‘uncle’ and it’ll be fine. Acerola calls me that all the time and almost no one ever asks about it.” 

Small frown forming on her forehead, Plumeria didn’t criticize him out loud, but she didn’t look convinced either. Well, she was a little up tight... Shrugging, Nanu continued. 

“Let’s say he’s my distant cousins kid, coming here to have a vacation in Alola. Don’t worry about it, we make it up as we go. I wasn’t part of the International Police for nothing. “

A sudden image of Looker flashed in his eyes, making him add:  
“Cover ups are my specialty.”

Humming in his cup, Plumeria drank down whatever remains she had left. Fighting an urge to grimace, Nanu also took a sip from his now cold coffee. He didn’t enjoy the taste any more, but he wasn’t wasteful either. 

Putting her mug on the table, she seemingly wasn’t satisfied with him yet. “How do you plan on starting to investigate this mess, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Swallowing the nasty liquid, Nanu coughed. 

“I think our best move is to revisit the Ruins of Abundance together with Guzma. The chances of meeting Tapu Bulu there are slim, but it’s worth the shot. And even if the Tapu isn’t there, I’m hoping we can dig up something that’ll help us. But first I want to do some research. There’s no need to rush back, most of the people can’t even find the ruins. The chances of anyone tampering whatever possible clues we left behind are slim.“

As an after though, he added: “I’ll probably have to call Hala too. He’s an expert when it comes to Tapu’s and old rituals. He might have some insight.” 

“NO, YOU CAN’T!”

When he had announced that the kid couldn’t keep his full team, Nanu had been expecting a reaction. This time his sudden outburst came as a total surprise, scaring the hell out of him.

“You can’t call that loudmouth and tell him what happened to me! He might… A word might get around…”

Before he could even begin to answer, Plumeria cut in.

“Maybe you should trust Guzma on this one.” Even she was looking a bit uneasy. 

Nanu just stared at the two. There was definitely something he didn’t grasp here. It was frustrating, stupid even, to dismiss such a potential source of valuable knowledge, but… Fine, he would keep this as a secret from the Melemele’s kahuna. At least for the time being. 

Raising his hands in the air as a sign of defeat, he complied. “If it’s going to keep you two from acting up.”

When they both still gave him an expecting stare, Nanu huffed. “I’ll start looking into this, alone. I promise.”

Apparently this was all Plumeria needed to hear. With her coffee finished and the issue at hand settled, she rose up. “I have to get going, I was kinda in a middle of something when I got your note.” 

Turning her head towards Guzma, she started carefully: “Are you ready to give me, you know…”

The kid didn’t even let her finish. Crossing his arms tightly across his chest, he grumbled: “I’ll hafta think about it.” 

Also done with his coffee, Nanu reached for the table, aiming to snatch the last remaining biscuit. He needed something to get rid of the nasty aftertaste. “It’s best you do it today. No need to postpone this.” Popping the treat in his mouth, Nanu stated bluntly. The kid just grumbled.

Plumeria let her gaze linger on Guzma for a small moment, before she smiled tightly at the kahuna.“Thanks for the coffee. I’ll drop by later.”

They bid short good byes and with that, she was out of the house. As the door slammed shut, Nanu almost sighed in relief. There was nothing wrong with the Skull admin, death threats aside she was definitely more pleasant out of these two. But this much interaction with other people was exhausting, especially for a loner like him. His back stiff for sitting so long on his uncomfortable seat, Nanu stretched and shuffled to his couch. It was about time he could kick back and relax. Plopping down on the soft cushion, he flicked the TV open. Doing some light channel surfing first, he settled on watching the news. 

On his other side, Guzma didn’t budge. Gently chewing his lower lip, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. The kahuna just let him be, enjoying the peace and quiet as long as it lasted. At some point Nanu saw how the kid slowly slipped his hand in his pocket. After fumbling for a bit, he pulled something out, hand balled in a tight fist. Out of curiosity, Nanu gave him a glance. Guzma was examining six small pokeballs in his hands. 

 

\--xx--

 

True to her word, Plumeria came back later in that evening. Nanu was standing outside, leaning against the Station wall and despite the light shower, watching the setting sun when she appeared. This time she was in good spirits, hanging a plastic bag in her hand. She had found an old pair of sneakers that some of the younger grunts had grown out of, hoping they might fit Guzma. 

“Pretty neat, right? You think he’s going to like them?“ she babbled airily, showing off her finding. 

Giving the shoes a nod, he didn’t understand the youth fashion at all, the kahuna quickly changed their subject. 

“What did you tell the grunts?” His curiosity was getting best of him.

“I made up a story of Guzma heading to take care of some business in Akala. It’s gonna be fine, they won’t be expecting him back any day soon.”

Nanu eyed the girl.

“Are you going to be okay? Taking care of that bunch of knuckleheads alone?” Without a doubt it was going to be a hard task for just one person.

Plumeria just shrugged. “Not the first time I’m in charge. Guzma comes and goes as he pleases, it’s nothing unusual.”

While they engaged themselves in their small conversation, Guzma suddenly popped his head through the doorway. Most likely he had been summoned by Plumeria’s voice. 

“ ’Sup?” he greeted them coolly. 

Lifting the shoes for him to see, Plumeria grinned. “I got you something.” 

Guzma eyed her gift curiously as Plumeria put them down for him. Based on the crooked grin, he indeed did like their design. The sneakers were dark purple, almost the same shade his going-to-be tattoos were. To sweeten the deal, they were decorated with black, lightning shaped stripes and had matching shoelaces.

Not bothering to tie them, as soon as he had them on, Guzma gave a few trying kicks before striding down the road.

“Are they a good fit?”

She got herself an appreciative thumps up. Leaving Nanu to stand alone, she casually trailed after him. The kahuna suspected that the shoes also served as a peace offering for what was about to come.

“So. Have you decided who’s coming with me to the mansion?”

Guzma didn’t answer her, but started digging his pockets. He abruptly stopped when he realize that Nanu was watching them. Clearly wanting his opinion heard, he grunted with more volume than necessary: 

“Can we do this in private? I don’t want any geezers snoopin’.”

The cold stare Guzma threw at him was a clear sign he wasn’t happy about this. Nanu just shrugged it off of his conscience. He was doing this for a reason, even if the kid liked it or not. 

Plumeria didn’t say anything, but she did follow. Leading the way, Guzma stomped through a grassy patch before taking off to the nearby hill. Soon both the leader and the admin vanished behind the rocky cliffs. A few angry calls from wild Fearows rouse in the air before silence took over route 17. 

They were gone for a long while. Stars were already out, peeking here and there between the clouds when a small silhouette finally emerged from darkness. This time Nanu was out for a smoke when he saw the kid approach. Plumeria was gone, Guzma came back alone.  
As the boy steered towards the Station, he wore an expression that was hard to read. It wasn’t exactly angry, but his eyes had cold, almost isolated feel to them. Nanu had left the door open and as the warm light hit his face, it painted his features soft. He was looking almost painfully young like this. 

Gaze fixed straight ahead of him, Guzma tried to move past Nanu like the kahuna didn’t even exist. He was clearly sullen, but Nanu had to make sure there was no foul-play going on. As a rule of thump, he didn’t give orders often but when he did, he expected them to be obeyed. Before the kid could slink inside, he dropped his hand on his shoulder. His grip was gentle yet firm, stopping him on his tracks.

“You only have three pokéballs on you?” 

Guzma tried to shake his hand off, if only out of principle. When Nanu didn’t let go, he made a face at him. 

“Uhh, yeah!” Hastily patting himself down, he then dug out three ultra balls to view.

Feeling satisfied, Nanu gave his shoulder a small pat before letting him go. 

“Good boy.”

To his surprise, Guzma flinched from his small compliment. Not the reaction he had been expecting, but… ah well. Maybe he was overthinking it. 

Recovering fast, the kid adapted a cheeky tone as he lingered on the doorway. “So, I did what you wanted. When are you gonna start making an effort, old man? “

Not taking the bait, Nanu just nodded towards the night sky. 

“When the stars are lined in right position.”

Baffled by his odd comment, Guzma stared at him in confusion. It didn’t take him long to realize he was being made fun of. 

“Tsk…Crazy cat bastard!” Growling in anger, he stomped inside, slamming the door shut so hard the hinges groaned.

Despite this, the kahuna couldn’t help but chuckle. Guzma had to wait until morning, but he had nothing to worry about. He wasn’t going to drag this matter any longer than necessary. The sooner he got the kid out of his house, the better. 

Taking a last drag out of his cigarette, his eyes searched for one particular mountain that loomed far away in the horizon. Behind Mount Lanakila, out there was the Haina Desert. He had been serious about wanting to visit the ruins again. But first, he would do some reading. The place was old and had many mysteries surrounding it, by doing some research he hoped their chances to succeed would be better. Some clues might stay hidden until you knew how to search. 

He also couldn’t stop thinking about Tapu Bulu. What was the motivation here? Maybe what the Tapu did had something to do with the location? Could they reverse this if Guzma battled it again? Or should he ask forgiveness? If they were lucky, maybe this would wear off on it’s own? If so, how long would it take…? 

He was just guessing, but no one could blame him for that. Without anything even remotely similar to compare this to, he was about to try and investigate the impossible, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was mostly for setting things up, but I hope you still liked it!
> 
> I, uh, I'm bending some facts here. For this story, I changed the layout of Nanu's Police Station a bit. He just... needs more rooms. It's still a small place, but I wanted to make it seem more livable. 
> 
> Secondly, about Soot, the Meowth I created for this fic. I know it's not canonically possible for pokémon to have different fur patterns ( except Spinda), but I needed to make up a Meowth that's recognizable. I have future plans for him, it's going to be essential that he's different from the norm. :>
> 
> Also, stating the obvious here, but I'm not a native English speaker. I try my best to keep my writing as correct as possible, but I know I still make mistakes. If there's any weird or hard to understand sentences, I would be happy if you pointed them out so I can fix them. ^w^
> 
> All comments are very appreciated! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Until next time~


	3. Smooth Criminal

With his eyes squinting in the sunlight, a strong wind blew through Nanu’s hair as he soared through the sky on a Charizard Glide. It was a fine day and the kahuna was enjoying the sensation of being outdoors full heartedly. He had spent the rest of his week cooped up inside his Station, trying to do some research that might help them get started on cracking this mystery. 

So far, his best idea was to go through old case files he had stored in his office. Most of them had already been there when he moved to the Station, relics from the officers that came before him. He was hoping to find something at least remotely similar to Guzma’s situation, even if it was a long shot. But despite his efforts, nothing had turned up yet.  
After spending fruitless hours with his papers, Nanu had finally given up for the day. Instead he had decided to do something more productive, like drag Guzma along with him to do grocery shopping. With the kid emptying his fridge like a starved Snorlax, this was an inevitable run of events anyway. 

While their need for food was real, there was also another motive behind Nanu’s actions. Ever since Plumeria’s visit, the kid had been acting increasingly hostile towards him. Most of his time Guzma spent on route 17, training his pokémon up in the nearby hill. When he couldn’t stay outside any longer and was forced to come inside, he tried to ignore Nanu in any way possible.  
The kahuna did appreciate his alone time, but he was also starting to get fed up with the constant glaring and rude comments. He wasn't quite sure what he had done to piss the Skull Boss off this badly, but it didn't take a genius to see that he was the cause of the kids anger. 

As a peace offering, Nanu had chosen to make a longer journey and go shopping to Akala Island instead of the small convenient store in Malie City. Maybe Guzma would lighten up if he did something out of his routine for a change? He had been spending too much time on that hill lately. 

As if on cue, there was a small growl in front of him. 

“This is so embarrassing! And I never agreed to go shopping with you in the first place!” 

Shifting his weight, Nanu had to admit it was a little cramped to ride the Charizard Glide together. But even if it was a snug fit, with Guzma in his compact size they were both able to share the saddle. Embarrassing or not, as long as they got to Akala Island in one piece, it was enough for the kahuna. There was no better way to hop islands anyway.  
Gripping tightly on the handlebars while trying to sit as far away from the kahuna as possible, Guzma threw him a dirty look. Or at least he tried. The rider helmet was pushing his mane of a hair over his face, covering his eyes almost completely. Nanu had made him wear it. 

“Yeah, I think I saw a few Wingulls laughing at us up here.” Small smirk playing on his lips, he answered easily. Guzma refused to be entertained by his dry humor.

“Remind me why I'm doing this with you again? The kid huffed.

“Because I'm not leaving you in my house unsupervised. Not even near it. Now, if you just stop the bellyaching, I'm sure you can find something interesting to do in Akala. The Battle Royal Dome is there, so there's going to be lots of trainers hanging around in Royal Avenue. Maybe you can catch yourself a battle or two?”

This effectively stopped the whining. Nanu was certain his training must've been pretty unrequited lately. The fact he stayed on a same small area assured there were no new and more powerful pokémon to battle against. Guzma was probably getting sick of the small fries by now. 

Suddenly the Charizard swooped down. Nanu tightened his hold as the beast started landing. Bursting through the clouds, he could see the small houses on the Royal Avenue grow closer with every wing beat. The weather in Akala Island was nice, like it always was. Already he was starting to regret the fact he had left his sunglasses home. 

The Charizard dropped them off at the outskirts of the city. As soon as they touched the ground, Guzma jumped off, quickly scurrying away like he was afraid of being seen in their company.  
While the kid struggled to get the helmet off, Nanu dug his pockets for pokébeans. He always made sure to have treats for all the Ride Pokémon as thanks for their hard work. The Charizard happily accepted them, swiping them in its mouth with one lick of its tongue.  
After munching down his offerings, it gave the kahuna a deep roar and rose in the air, leaving the duo behind to go and gather more travelers who needed a ride.

“We ready to go or what?” As soon as the lizard was out of sight, the complaining started. 

Turning to meet the familiar scowl, Nanu wanted to tell him that his face would permanently stuck that way if he didn’t stop. Instead, he just complied:

“Sure, but lets make up some rules first.” 

Ignoring the exaggerated eye roll that was aimed at him, Nanu checked his wristwatch. They were on a move late, it was almost five in the afternoon already. He wanted to get back to Ula'ula before the nightfall, so that gave them a good few hours to spend here. 

“I guess we can stay for two hours. How about you meet me at the Battle Royal Dome around seven? You can visit the Heahea City too if you want, just make sure you don’t wander off too far.” Looking past the city, he took in the sight of a high mountain that stood in the distance.

“Also, stay away from the Wela Volcano Park. You have no reason to go there.”

There was a small risk of Guzma running into anyone who had even a slight potential of recognizing him. Kiawe wasn't in a same age group as Guzma, so he doubted the guy even really knew him, but the kahuna wanted to stay on a safe side. 

He was about to ask Guzma how familiar he was with the fiery Island Captain, but when he turned his head, the kid was gone. Blinking, he realized the boy was already running towards the city, probably missing half of what he had said. With his back receding further away, Nanu yelled after him: “Try not to cause any trouble, you hear me?”

He got no answer and the kahuna just gave up. He hoped the kid had at least paid attention when he told him to get back around seven. Shaking his head, he also started walking towards the busy streets in his own, calm pace. 

As he shuffled through the Royal Avenue, he couldn’t help but think there really wasn’t much to do in the city itself, despite the Thrifty Megamart and the Battle Royal Dome. While Heahea City was more upbeat, he had come here for a reason. It was called great deals on MooMoo Milk and other groceries and Nanu definitely appreciated a good bargain. And thus, without any detours he steered towards the megastore. 

Crossing the parking lot, the double doors invited him in with a happy jingle as he entered the store. While grabbing himself a shopping basket, he did his best to ignore the creepy guy in a Hypno-suit that stood near the canned goods. He would never get used to that thing.  
Heading for the vegetables first, he was aiming to buy enough food that would last them for the next 5 days or so. His eyes roaming over the shelves , the kahuna soon fell into a relaxed pace, humming as he picked an item here and there. As his basket grew heavier, he had to admit, it was actually nice to plan out dinners for once. He had been living alone for such a long time now, he usually just ate noodles and other things that came in cans. 

When Nanu stopped to compare prices on snacks, unbeknownst to him, someone sneaked close to the kahuna. He was trying to choose between two different brands of tamato chips when a singsong voice broke his concentration. 

”Why if it isn't Nanu! It's so nice to see you here.”

Turning around, he was surprised to find a young woman with a sweet face and white hair smiling at him. Doing a quick mental check on her, he suddenly realized who she was. 

”Hello Burnet, how have you been?” 

The professor’s smile got even brighter. ”It's been years, I'm so happy you still remember me!”

Smiling politely, Nanu quickly scanned the aisle before asking: ”Is your husband with you?”

”Ah, no no. Kukui's back in the Melemele Island. You know him, ever so busy with his pokémon move studies.” Cheerfully waving him off, she leaned to peek in his basket.

”You sure are buying a lot. Are you having visitors?” she raised her brows curiously.

Hurrying to change the topic, Nanu dodged her question casually: ”Uh, something like that. So tell me, how’s Kukui’s research coming along?” 

They ended up doing their shopping together. Burnet was surprisingly good company and it was nice to have a grownup conversation for a change. While catching up, at some point their discussion turned to work. He found out she was studying Interdream Zone, currently working on a research facility that specialized in Ultra Wormholes and other dimensions.  
That piece of information made his thought drift back to Guzma. Too bad this case didn’t have anything to do with Ultra Beasts, otherwise Burnet might’ve come in handy. Even if what Tapu Bulu had done was rather otherworldly… 

As they exited the Thrifty Megamart, they headed towards the city gates. There was still a good 40 minutes left before his meet up with Guzma. Originally the kahuna had prepared to wait around for the kid, so he was glad when the professor asked him to join her to come and see a pokémon match at the Battle Dome. Walking side by side, Nanu kept their light conversation going. 

”I must confess, I never thought you were that enthusiastic about multi battles.” 

A small, mischievous glint passed her eyes before she suddenly leaned closer to Nanu. Lowering her voice, like she was going to reveal a secret, she whispered: ”Actually, I'm also hoping to get a glimpse of The Masked Royal! He sometimes appears in these matches.” Sounding giddy, she grinned. 

When Nanu smirked, she hurried to add: ”Not that I'd ever trade my dear Kukui, not even for him!”

At first the kahuna thought she was joking. But the faint blush that dusted her cheeks made him realize she wasn’t kidding. He had to momentarily look away from the woman before he could answer her with a straight face.

”Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.” If she really didn’t know the masked man was her husband, Nanu wasn’t going to burst her bubble. Still, he did find this immensely funny. 

However, his positive mood didn't last for long. As they passed a dirt road leading to a flowerbed, a shrill scream split the air.

”LET GO OF ME!”

His heart skipping a beat, this stopped Nanu to a halt. That voice sounded uncomfortably familiar. Next to him, Burned was also gazing at the direction of the ruckus. 

”I wonder what's going on in there?” She said with a light frown. 

Not wanting to get her involved, Nanu swiftly turned to her. ”I think I'll go and have a look. Probably just some small hassle, you go ahead. I'll meet you at the Dome later.”

When she still looked unsure, Nanu added: ”Wouldn't want to miss that mystery man of yours.” He finished her off with a small wink.

Huffing in both frustration and amusement, she relented and bid him a good bye. When Nanu was certain she was out of the way, he made a fast u-turn towards the racket. Striding down the road as quickly as his flip-flops allowed, the voices were getting louder with every step. Finding the trouble always seemed to be the easy part and soon he could see there was a small crowd gathering near the store that sold malasadas.

As he reached the flock of people, Nanu had to use his elbows to tactically clear the way. A few people gave him curious glances as he squeezed past them, but he barely even noticed it. His focus was fixed on the scene that unfolded in front of his eyes as soon as he got to the action. There was a strong urge to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

” I didn't do anything! I said LET GO!” 

Near the entrance, a man in a malasada apron was trying his best to restrain a raging child. And of course, that child just had to be Guzma. The brat was struggling wildly, trying to wrestle himself out of the man grip and aimed a kick to his ankle every time he tried to reel him in. With his free hand he was holding the hem of his shirt like his life depended on it. 

For a second, Nanu was afraid that the man had actually recognized Guzma as the Team Skull leader. But the way the kid clung to his shirt made him change his mind. There was something going on here.

This spun Nanu into action. Dropping his grocery bags on the ground, he walked briskly to the pair. Before either one of them could react, he snatched Guzma by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him to stand up straight.  
The sudden change of motion made the kid yelp and in his surprise he let go of his shirt too. As soon as the fabric was released, three small malasadas fell on the ground with a soft “thud”. 

A complete silence followed this. For a moment, Nanu just stared at the buns that lay at his feet, his brain trying to grasp the concept here. He was snapped back to reality when the store clerk let out a relieved huff. 

”Ah, officer Nanu, what a great timing. As you can see, this... Uh, young man was stealing from our shop!”

Looking down on the kid, their eyes met briefly. Guzma gave him a wide-eyed stare, slowly and unsuccessfully trying to back away from the kahuna. If Nanu had ever seen a look that spoke “busted” more clearly, he couldn’t remember. Of all the things he could’ve done with his free time in here, this was what Guzma had chosen? Petty crime. 

Before the kid could say one word, Nanu silenced him with a dark glare. 

”We have a lot to talk about when we get back home.” Realizing a moment too late what he had just said, Nanu wanted to cringe.

With a confused expression on his face, the shop clerk gave him a questioning stare. ”Excuse me, but is he with you?” 

He wasn't the only one gaping. Nanu could hear a small wave of whispers emerge all over them, the people were already starting to gossip about this. Feeling heat rise to his cheeks, both out of irritation and embarrassment, he confirmed this little slip up. 

”Unfortunately that seems to be the case.” The kahuna nodded sheepishly. 

When the man still kept staring at him, Nanu hurried to make an excuse. “Relatives kid, came here to experience Alola. He’s… Still getting used to this place I suppose. “

Before he could utter any more lies, there was a loud snort behind him. Turning to face his left, he was greeted by a cone of ice cream. Following the hand that was holding it, Nanu found there was a short, fat man wearing the ugliest case of Alola-shirt he had ever seen. At some point he had moved closer to them, like he was somehow part of this ordeal. 

Pointing at Guzma, the man offered Nanua a mocking grin.

”Didn't you watch the movie before you got that? You're not supposed to feed them after midnight!”

It was painfully obvious that the guy wasn't a local. The native people had enough shame to slowly walk away or at least look like they were waiting access to the malasada shop. A tourist or not, his rude interference was starting to piss the kahuna off. 

”Thank you for letting me know. I think we both could benefit from that advice.” While speaking politely, Nanu offered they guy his nastiest grin. 

First the mans face went blank, then it started turning into an ugly shade of bright red. Giving his ice cream a fierce lick, he harrumphed and walked off. Inspired by this, Nanu gave a disapproving glare to the rest of the crowd as well

”Don't you people have anything better to do with yourselves?”

It was one of those moments he was happy to be both the kahuna and a police officer. Usually at least one of those titles was enough to provide him the credibility that got people going. Some of the folks left more reluctantly, but in the end this comment alone was enough to scatter the herd of bystanders. 

As soon as they were alone, Nanu turned to give Guzma a stern look. He was content to finally let go of his shirt though. The store clerk followed his suit, releasing his hand. 

”Is there anything you want to say?” There was a clear warning in his voice, coaxing the kid to say the magic words that might still save their reputation. 

It didn't register however. Giving Nanu a long, seemingly unimpressed stare, Guzma lifted his sneaker and slowly stepped on one of the malasadas. As the red jam poured on the pavement, Nanu was momentarily stunned still by the nerve the kid had.  
Apparently he had also let go of his shirt too early. After the deed was done, Guzma quickly turned his tail and sprinted away from the crime scene. 

“H-hey!” feeling betrayed, Nanu watched in disbelief how Guzma jumped over a fence and quickly vanished between the flower shrubs. That little Yungoos!

He was about to run after the kid when the malasada man stopped him by clearing his throat. The kahuna turned to give him an impatient stare. Gesturing towards the buns that still laid there like tasty evidence, the store clerk spoke in a hard tone: 

”I assume you were going to pay for these?”

\--xx--

He should've just abandoned him, right there and then! 

The wind was blowing though the dying patches of grass as the kahuna hiked up the mountainside. He could see wild pokémon poking their heads out curiously every now and then, probably wondering what he was doing here.  
Heaving a deep breath, Nanu forced himself to climb over yet another rocky ledge. It would have been a lot easier if he didn't have the heavy groceries with him. 

After Guzma stormed off, the kahuna had spent a good 15 minutes asking if people had seen a black haired gremlin running around. The clues he had managed to gather with his vague explanation all pointed strongly towards the Wela Volcano Park.  
Following the serpentine road up was tiresome, but Nanu was feeling confident that he was on a right track. Of course Guzma would go to that one place he had specifically forbidden from him. 

To add into his irritation, the miffed store clerk had charged him the amount of 6 malasadas, on top of banning them both from his store. While bowing his head in apology and handing over the money, Nanu had felt both humiliated as well as ripped off. Guzma hadn't even eaten any of them! After the kid had stomped one and the other had just bursted open because of the fall, Nanu had managed to save only one of the buns. It was going to be the most expensive malasada he had ever eaten and he was going to consume it if only out of spite.

When one of his plastic bags got stuck and almost ripped because of the sharp rocks, Nanu finally stopped, cursing under his breath. This was exactly the reason he never had kids of his own. Too darn much hassle! 

Waiting to catch his breath, Nanu laid his eyes on the setting sun. The sky was already turning into different shades of burning red, so much for getting back before night. If there was anything positive in this, at least it wasn’t the worst possible view.  
While admiring the scenery, he couldn’t help but notice there was something strange in the horizon. Frowning, he realized that a mass of dark clouds was rising in the distance. They were still barely visible, but if living in Po Town had taught him anything, he knew a storm cloud when he saw one. Something was definitely arriving from the sea and he could only hope it wouldn’t hit the islands. 

Mulling this over, he ended his small break. He wasn't far from the peak anymore and he wanted to get off of the island as soon as possible. After crossing one short cavern he finally reached the top. Upon arriving, Nanu was surprised to see that the site was empty. All the guards were gone, probably they had left home early as there were no new kids taking on the island challenge. Yet he wasn't completely alone.  
The fires that normally burned on the torches were out, but the kahuna could see someone standing on the battle arena. In the dying light of dusk, he almost mistook the lonely figure as Kiawe, but the lack of more mature structure made him take a closer look. And sure enough, instead of the Captain, it was Guzma who stood there like he had conquered the place. 

The kid had his back facing him, gaze fixed somewhere in the distance. He seemed to be so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even notice Nanu as he walked closer. Stopping before the stage, the kahuna cleared his throat.

”I have no idea what has you so on the edge, but enough is enough. Are you ready to stop with the games already?”

As his voice broke the silence, Guzma whirled around. Gaping at him, he looked surprised to see Nanu had followed him.  
Unceremoniously dropping his bags on the ground, Nanu stuffed his hands in his pockets and casually joined the kid on the arena. For a while they just stood there, face to face, as a sensation of charged electricity sparked between them. It was Nanu who spoke again.

“I have to hand it to you, it takes some guts to go and steal right under my watch. But that also means I expect you to man up and explain me why you felt like doing it.”

Looking him from head to toe, like he was gauging him, Nanu was met with a dry, humorless snort. 

“I don't have to explain you anything.” The kid just shrugged at him.

Nanu had to resist a sigh. There was a lot of reprimanding the kahuna wanted to do, but the long hike had already dulled his anger. Deciding that on top of a volcano wasn't probably the best place for them to talk this through, he gave up on his attempts to interrogate the kid. Instead he waved a small gesture, trying to get him moving.

”Come one, the day is almost over and we still have a lot to talk about. We're getting back to the Station.” To his surprise, Guzma gave him a simple: 

”No.”

Before the kahuna could disagree, Guzma crossed his arms. ”I'm not gonna ride the Charizard with you again. Just leave me be, old man. I'll come back when I feel like it.”

Nanu blinked at this unexpected setback. The nightfall was almost upon them and he had no idea if Guzma even possessed a Ride Pager of his own. There was no way he could just leave him behind, but he had no idea how to force him to come back to Ula'ula either. Riding tandem on the Charizard Glide was tricky and if he tried to make Guzma ride the pokémon against his will, he would risk their safety. 

Reading his distress from his face, Guzma gave him a small chuckle. “You know, for a guy who comes across as emotionally dead as you, you're pretty fussy. Always thought you had more chill, gramps.”

Feeling irritation bubble in his gut again, Nanu finally lost his temper. “Don't read too much into it, kid. I'm just doing my job as a police officer. Leaving a nuisance like you here unsupervised would be a crime on my part,” he stated nastily. 

This comment made a small spark of rebellion flare in Guzma's eyes. “That so? If doing your job is so important to you, why don't we settle this like the trainers we are?”

Gesturing the arena they were standing on, the kid gave him an arrogant look.

“Let's have a battle, right here and right now! You promised me I'd get to fight a trainer today, might as well be you.”

Nanu just cocked his brow at his demand. “This stage of combat is meant for island challenges, boy. We're not allowed to raise unnecessary ruckus here.”

“Get real! If this place is not used for battling, then what good is it for?” Guzma barked out a small laugh, but his eyes steeled.

“Besides, I've already given you a fair handicap by handing over half of my team. Or is this still too intimidating for you, Kahuna Nanu? Gesturing himself the boy taunted. 

Nanu wanted to groan. Guzma was really pushing it. But by the looks of it, he wasn't going to stop this nonsense until something drastic happened. The kahuna wasn’t sure what he had done to the kid, but clearly he had a bone to pick with him. To get this settled, it was probably best they did it Guzma's way.

Eyes hardening with resolve, Nanu gave the boy a serious look. If a fight was what he wanted, a fight he would get.

“Fine, I'll battle you.” Nanu stated coolly, but Guzma's face lit with him agreeing. Before the kid could get carried away, he added:

“But I have conditions. If I win, you come back to the Station with me, no whining. I also expect you to give me a real explanation of why you did what you did today. And it's better be a good one, because if I don't like what I hear, you won't be leaving the house before I say so.”

Guzma's confident smile fell a little. Based on the way his brows furrowed, he was starting to second-guess his challenge. Smirking in a faint amusement, the kahuna regarded the kid. 

“What, you thought I'd just let you get away with that malasada stunt? I don’t always act the part, but I really am a police officer, boy. Stealing is not something I'm going to allow. It's a high time you learn there's consequences for your actions. ”

Trying to turn this to his own favor, the kid threw him a question of his own. “And what happens if I win?” 

Nanu gave him a lazy shrug. “I guess that means you're the bigger man out of us two. You get to choose what you do from there on, no need to listen to an old bone bag like me. Naturally, I’ll still help you with this case.”

This promise was enough to get the kid back to high spirits. Flashing a wide grin, Guzma pointed a finger towards him. 

“You’re digging your own grave, old man! I want a full battle, three versus three, no backing out. We fight until the other can't go on!”

For once, excitement was shining on Guzma’s face, but it was tainted by a trace of desperation. There was a need to win, no matter what.  
Unfortunately for him, Nanu wasn't going to hand him a victory. He would take the brat down a peg, even if it were the last thing he ever did. His reputation, as well as the quality of his life in the future, was depending on it. 

Doing a small mental check on which members he had brought with him, Nanu dug out a well worn ultra ball. On his opposite, Guzma did the same. There were no festivities, exchanging meaningful glances both trainers threw their pokéballs in the air in unison. 

With a flash of light, Guzma's Pinsir appeared on the arena. Also emerging from its ball, Nanu's Honchkrow made a sweep across the stage before settling in front of the kahuna. Nanu had chosen to go with a type advantage, but before he could utter a word, Guzma roared a command: 

“We're taking this match, Pinsir! Use X-Scissor!“

With surprising agility, the bug opened the battle by lunging forward. Honchkrow didn't have a chance to move away as it clenched its spiky horns around the birds midsection, successfully trapping it there. Letting out a pained caw, Honchkrow tired to struggle in its hold with no avail.

His plan succeeding, Guzma threw Nanu a smug grin.

“You snooze, you loose. I guess this is going to be an easy match after all.” 

Brows furrowing in concentration, Nanu licked his lips. The kid might've gotten a head start by rushing in, but the game was just beginning.  
Searching his partners eyes, they exchanged glances. Even while trapped, Nanu could tell it hadn't lost its nerve. They were still in a good place.

“Okay Honchkrow, let's turn this around. Break its focus with Snarl!” 

Letting out an ear-splitting screech, Honchkrow rasped a painful sound. Like planned, with the attack hitting its target from such close proximity, it caused Pinsir to loose its ground. Shaking its head wildly, the bugtype tried to get away from the horrible noise. In the end, this forced it to let go of its prey. As soon as the pincers loosened, Honchkrow flew off, landing near Nanu. They had regained their distance and now the crow was eyeing its opponent cautiously. They wouldn't get surprised that easily next time. 

“That was a mighty good Snarl, great job.” Nodding to his Honchkrow, Nanu acknowledged.

Turning his attention towards Guzma, he also slipped a small praise for the kid. 

“That wasn’t too shabby either. Simple yet bold move, but too bad it didn't last. You might've actually won with that strategy.” He had to admit, there was a small shiver of excitement rushing through him. Already Guzma’s team was proving to be trickier to take out than Nanu had anticipated. 

“Tsk, doesn't matter. My Pinsir is both faster AND stronger than that bird of yours. We won't let it get away twice.” Despite the kahunas compliment, Guzma just sneered at him.

“We'll see about that. Time to aim higher Honchkrow, we're going for Aerial Ace.” With a smooth sweep of his hand, Nanu gestured towards the sky. It was time to get serious. Hearing this, Guzma's eyes widened. 

“Don't let it get away! Grab it with your X-Scissor before it takes off!”  
Hurrying to give a command of his own, the kid pointed towards the Honchcrow. Immediately his pokémon launched into action. Nanu had to bite his lip as he watched Pinsir sprint across the arena before leaping in the air and aiming to get a new grip on his team member. 

This time however, his Honchkrow was prepared for the strike. With a strong flap of its wings, it managed to get away just before the big pincers could take a hold of it. Leaving its opponent to stand alone in the arena, it successfully rose high in the air. 

Guzma hadn’t been boasting, his Pinsir really was surprisingly agile. But speed alone wouldn't be enough to win this match. And now, as they had managed to escape those bothersome horns, it was likely enough to assure their victory. 

Based on the look on his face, Guzma was also aware of this. Balling his hands in fists, the kid threw his Pinsir a serious look. 

“Stand your ground! You can take that attack, I know you can!” As there was nothing he could do to prevent the strike, Guzma tried to encourage his pokémon to endure the hit. 

Nanu was also ready to end this. “It's now or never, Honchkrow. Use Aerial Ace!”

Letting out a single caw, the bird dropped down from the sky. As it reached the ground, its speed became so great it wasn't even possible to see it with a naked eye. Yet, Pinsir didn't need to see it. Following its orders, with a wide stance it prepared to take Honchkrow head on. 

Reaching full force, a beak collided against a hard chitin shell and the impact that followed was so intense it made a cloud of dust burst in the air. 

His jacket flapping in a wind, Nanu held his breath as he waited to see the outcome. When the dust settled down, a small gasp escaped him.  
In the middle of the arena, the two pokémons were tangled together, neither of them letting go. Pinsir was still standing on its feet, hunched over Honchkrow. The crow also had its beak connected with the bugs body, dug deep against its hard shell. But it wasn't like the bird could move away. After Honchkrow had swooped down on it, Pinsir had yet again managed to crush it between its horns. Now, they were struggling to see who was the strongest. 

Guzma was first to break the silence. 

“YES! Show ‘im, Pinsir!” Screaming in excitement, the kid made a fist bump in the air.

But unfortunately for Guzma, the damage his pokémon had suffered was too great. Screwing its eyes close, the bug suddenly collapsed to its knees. As soon as it lost its balance, it also released Honchkrow from its grip. While the crow quickly scampered away, Pinsir fell on its side and fainted. 

Running a finger under his nose, Nanu grinned at the kid. “Best not to count your Torchicks before they're hatched. I guess we won this round.” 

He was taunting him, but honestly, the kahuna was a little impressed. While being a flying type, his Honchkrow had a great advantage with its Aerial Ace. For Pinsir to be able to grab onto its opponent, especially from that speed and managing to hold on, required some skill. It was clear to the kahuna that this pokémon was well trained. 

Giving his Honchkrow a searching look, Nanu tried to determine how much damage it had suffered. While it was still flying, based on the low altitude he knew that the attacks it had endured had stung. Quite unexpected and interesting, indeed.

But seemingly Guzma didn't share his amazement. With an expression that was hard to read, he called his pokémon back to its ball without a word. 

Nanu also decided to give his Honchkrow a break, pulling it out of the arena. New pokéballs were thrown in the air, releasing a fresh set of pokémon to match their power.

As Guzma's Masquerain entered the stage, Nanu sent out his Persian.

Laying his eyes on the feline that came out of the ball, Nanu smirked. This pokémon was truly his pride and joy. It had been by his side ever since he was a young officer and it was needles to say they had been through a lot together. As it now stretched its long body, getting ready for a battle, it did feel a little excessive to send it after Guzma's team. But he had decided to see what the kid was made of. 

This time Guzma wasn't as eager to attack as before and Nanu ended up giving the first command. 

“Let's do some thinking before we go. Persian, use your Nasty Plot.”

“Masquerain, use Energy Ball!”

The kahuna watched a green ball of light hit his Persian, feeling confident. Their counter attack would be worth it. 

“Energy Ball, again!”

“Burst it with Dark Pulse.”

With its special attack skyrocketing, the force of Persians Dark Pulse was strong enough to break Masquerains attack. Exploding the ball of energy into nothingness, the pressure wave that followed was so powerful it sent the bugtype flying half across the arena. Nanu smirked. Apparently they had been able to deal some extra damage, but it still wasn't enough to knock out their opponent.

While the Masquerain was trying to regain its strength, Guzma was starting to struggle with himself.

“Use Energy Ball! But do it right this time!”

Watching the kid opening and closing his fists, Nanu frowned. There was another reason why he had accepted his challenge, other than letting out some steam. He had never had the chance to see what kind of trainer Guzma really was.  
Hala once told him that the guy was actually pretty good with strategizing, which was a good trait for a trainer to have. It also became somewhat vital when one decided to specialize in one particular pokémon type, like himself. You let yourself vulnerable in many ways and a good strategy was sometimes your only saving grace. 

But right now, he wasn't sure what he was looking at. After his Pinsir had lost and his Masquerain wasn't holding up, all the composure Guzma had earlier started to fall in pieces. His commands became sloppier with hasty timing, like he had stopped thinking all together. Now he was just trying to overpower the kahuna with everything he had.

“Use Air Slash!!“ 

“Take that Masquerain down with Power Gem.”

With a mysterious light illuminating from its gemstone, Persian prepared to use its attack. Nanu allowed Masquerain to swoop closer, before motioning his pokémon to release a rain of rocks. And sure enough, with boulders hurling in its way, there was nothing the bug could do to get away. With a crushing defeat, it ended up being knocked down on the ground.  
As soon as it fell, the feline seized its prey. Before Masquerain could get up, Persian laid a heavy paw on its back, pinning it down against the stone floor. With a low growl, razor sharp claws started to emerged, inching closer to the bug. The message it was sending was clear; give up or your pokémon gets it. 

Cursing, Guzma was forced to retrieve it back. This time, their win had been easy and merciless. 

For the next round, Nanu had no need to change his pokémon. Guzma’s last choice didn't come as a surprise and soon Golisopod landed on the stone tiles, its weight causing a light tremor. As if sensing its trainer wasn't in good spirits, the bug gave Guzma a wary look, lifting its antennae’s in question. But the kid wasn't in a mood for that. 

“Don't just stand there! Use Razor Shell!” Pointing towards the Persian, he hissed. 

As the bug hurried to obey, Nanu didn't even have to give his team member a command. The feline dodged the spurt of water that was hastily aimed at it with practiced ease. 

And just like that, what had started as a promising battle was now dropping to an all time low. Nanu was currently paying more attention on Guzma than the combat they were having. If it could be even called that anymore. Pokémon battles were a team effort and if the trainer wasn't feeling it, there was no way your pokémon could earn you the victory alone. 

Gracefully dashing across the arena, Persian was doing a fine job on dodging everything that was hurled in its way. 

Meanwhile the kahuna was getting a little worried, for the sake of both Guzma and his team member. He had no need or intention to cause any unnecessary harm on the kids pokémon as the boy wasn't in a good mindset for battling. 

“What's the matter, getting out of breath already? Why won't you attack?!”  
Apparently Guzma had also noticed his lack of effort and was now trying to egg him on. 

Nanu decided it was time to try and reason with him: “Maybe you should call your Golisopod back? I still have two more members in my party to use, even if Persian loses. There’s no need to continue this, if you ask me.” 

But his attempts for kindness were misunderstood. Clenching his teeth, the kid just growled at him. 

“Don't you dare to look down on me!” 

“I wasn’t trying to…” But Guzma wouldn’t even let him finish.

“Shut up and hit me with everything you got! I'll show you what were made out of!”

Dear lord the kid was stubborn. Pinching the verge of his nose, Nanu weighed the situation. There were two options here; to go easy on him and likely deal with an enraged Guzma or go all-out and crush him completely. No matter what he chose, damage would be done to the kids pride. Giving Guzma a last glance, he silently leaned on the latter. After all, he was asking for it. 

Shutting his eyes, Nanu took a deep breath, calming himself. Flip-flops sliding on the smooth tiles, he widened his stance. Meanwhile his Persian had turned its full attention towards him, reading the signs. It knew what was about to happen.  
A familiar, empowering sensation took over him. The kahuna could almost feel his breath sync with his pokémon as he performed the well practices dance movements. Finishing the ritual by raising his hands over his head while bending his hips, the Z-crystal on his wrist lit up. It emitted an ominous, dark light. 

“Black Hole Eclipse.”

No matter how goofy this pose looked, his opponents hardly ever had time for laughs, as they knew what was coming. And sure enough, he could see Guzma take a step back.  
But it was too late to regret, the sky had already started to turn red. A great, black mass first gathered in front of his Persian, before the pokémon shot a ball of dark energy towards Golisopod. It didn't hit its target, but instead flew over the isopods head before forming into a dark void. Unable to resist its gravity, the bug was swept in the air and swallowed by the darkness. The void disappeared for a second, before turning into an explosion that shook the whole arena. 

After the remains of darkness cleared away like a veil of black mist, Golisopod was left standing in the middle of the stage. Taking a step back, it swayed like it was about to fall.

“GOLISOPOD! Don't give up, do...” But before Guzma could give out a command, his pokémon started loosing its form. Turning into a beam of red light, it retrieved itself back to its pokéball. 

Persian let out a pleased meow, proudly puffing its fur. It had been yet another easy win. 

Nanu was relieved the bug had Emergency Exit in its use. Likely there wasn't a lot of energy left in its body, but he didn't want to hurt it any more. He was also disappointed that Guzma didn't have enough sense to read the battle better. He had brought this on himself. 

With Golisopod forfeiting, the match was over. He had won and Nanu took his time to think back. Ever since he had gotten a glimpse of Guzma almost defeating Tapu Bulu, his interest had been piqued. It was no secret that the Skull Boss had never completed his Island Challenge, yet if he was good enough to take down a Tapu something must've changed. But right now, as he watched the kid shiver from anxiety, he knew this wasn't the same trainer he had met in the ruins of Abundance that day. 

“I guess even your pokémon knows better when to give up than you.” Nanu scolded lightly. It was a little sad to see that Guzma's own mind was his greatest downfall. 

This comment was apparently the last straw for the Skull Boss. With one hand digging into his own hair, he yanked down, hard. Throwing an enraged look on the pokéball in his hand, the kid snarled.

“GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID BUG!” Screaming on top of his lungs, he threw the ultra ball on the ground so hard there was an audible crack. Still, Golisopod wouldn't emerge. His pokéball just rolled quietly away from Guzma, stopping in the middle of the arena. Persian gave it a questioning sniff, before loosing its interest.

While the kid was struggling to calm down, Nanu also called his pokémon back. “So, anything else you want to add in this mess?”

“SHUT UP! You're not better than me! Just SHUT UP!!”

Nanu had no answer to that. Gulping down air, like he was out of breath, the kid yelled at him: “It's your fault I don't have my full team with me! I would've won if I had them!” His voice was thick with emotion. 

With that, Guzma whirled around and stomped off. Not even bothering to go and collect his pokéball, he jumped off the arena and headed towards the rocky brim of the volcano. 

As the kid leaned over the ledge, Nanu sighed. What he had hoped to be a nice, relaxing day for both of them had ended up as a disaster. The kid was upset, but Nanu had a feeling he now knew where this all was coming from. Rather than just being bad behavior, this was also a power struggle between the two of them.  
No more than a week ago Guzma had been a grown man, who was also the leading figure of his own gang. He was used to give out orders, not receiving them. But now this balance in his life had drastically shifted, leaving him to be the underdog.  
All he had left from his former glory was his pride as a pokémon trainer and now Nanu had beaten him in that as well. 

Even with everything that had already happened up to this point, this thought still gave Nanu a tug of sympathy. He was having a hard time managing the kid, sure, but this all was probably even harder for Guzma. 

Eyes softening, he went to pick up the abandoned ultra ball. Putting it to his pocket, he slowly walked next to the kid and joined him by leaning over the ledge as well. Even as the day had started to turn into a night, thanks to the fires that lived inside the mountain the rocks were warm against his front. Guzma did nothing to acknowledge him, he just stared in the distance, wrapped in sullen silence. 

Nanu watched as a streak of magma flowed between them, running down the side of the mountain. The way this small stream divided them in their own halves gave him an idea.

Hand slipping in his pocket, he dug out the malasada he had been able to save. Being careful to not spill the filling, Nanu split it in half. The delicate, sweet aroma wafted in the air as the crust broke. Offering the other half to the kid, Nanu waited. At first Guzma tried to ignore it, but when the persistent bun didn't go away, he begrudgingly accepted it. 

Nanu hadn't even realized how hungry he was until he chomped down on the malasada. It was bitter flavored, but not overly so and somehow tasted almost heavenly. Chewing slowly, Nanu kept his eyes fixed on the remains of the setting sun and let silence take over. Idly thinking how to start their conversation, Guzma suddenly piped up. 

“Why are you doing this?” 

He still hadn't taken a bite of his half. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the gooey jam that was trying to escape and drip on his fingers. Before Nanu could ask what he meant, the kid went on: 

“You're not any different from the rest. I know you think I'm a bad person, so you can just say it!” While trying to sound aloof, his voice still had a small waver. 

Nanu gave him a side way glance. Surprisingly, now that all the fight had left him, the kid was looking a little guilty. Pondering this for a small while, Nanu answered quietly:

“That's not true. While I can't say I’m pleased with the choices you made today, I also don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad kid.”

It was at least half a truth. Nanu really didn’t think someone as young as 10 years old could be labeled as a “bad person”. But in reality, Guzma wasn’t really that young, was he. On top of that, they already knew how he was going to grow up. Still, there was no gain in stating this to his face right now. 

As he listened the kahuna, the kid was looking puzzled. Carefully glancing at him, he clearly hadn't expected this response. But Nanu wasn't going to let him off the hook.

“That being said, I still want to hear why you wanted to steal those malasadas.”

As the question was brought up again, the kid groaned. Popping the rest of his treat in his mouth, Nanu sucked the sugar off his thump. His own growling stomach made him ask his first question: 

“Were you hungry? Did you take them because you wanted a snack?”

He got a shake for no. Well shoot, this was going to be more complicated then.

“You didn’t take them because you were hungry? Cripes kid, don’t tell me you grabbed them just because you wanted to steal something?” 

He got a new shake for no, before Guzma complied. Fidgeting a little, he offered the kahuna a quiet answer: “No, I just wanted to get something for G-pod and the team. Most of 'em like bitter malasada the best.”

G-pod? Ah, he meant his Golisopod. So, the boy had wanted to get some treats for his pokémon. Nanu gave him a small nod, at least they had cleared that part. 

“Okay, fair enough. But why did you try to steal them?” 

Another shrug, but at this point Guzma had accepted the fact he had to give him real answers.  
“I didn’t have any money, so… I didn’t know how else to get them.” With a mixture of emotions flashing through his face, he confessed. 

Nanu raked his hand up his neck, scratching his scalp. “ I'm not even going to address that. You know as well as I do that not having any money doesn’t make it okay to just take what you want. Why didn’t you ask me to buy them for you? I may not have been in the store with you, but you knew where to find me.”

Taking a deep breath and sighing almost dramatically, Guzma finally took a bite out of his malasada. Gaze fixed on the darkening sky, he muttered: “It’s not like we’re friends or anything. Why would you buy me stuff?”

And with that, a penny dropped for Nanu. He... Could actually understand his reasoning. Taking a moment to think how to answer, the kahuna felt a small tug at the corner of his lip. They were not used to live like this. Yet, it was almost comforting to know that they could both relate to this absurdity that was their current life. 

“Trust me, this feels just as weird to me as it does to you. But try to hang in there, okay? In the future, if you need something from the store you can just ask for it.“

Guzma gave him a skeptical look. Nanu just shrugged. 

“I mean it. As long as I’m not paying the rent, we have some extra to spare.”

While not looking entirely convinced, he still received a slow nod from Guzma. Remembering what else he had in his pocket, Nanu handed the kid his pokéball. 

“I assume you want this back.” 

As soon as the black and yellow ball came to his view, Guzma quickly snatch it to himself. The kid opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when the damage he had caused earlier caught his eye. His mouth forming into a thin line, Guzma run his thump over the previously smooth surface. There was now a deep dent on its side. Bringing the ball closer to his face, his brow started to furrow in worry. 

Giving the ultra ball a quick glance, Nanu tried to say something reassuring: “I've seen pokéballs take more damage that. Don't worry about it, your Golisopod is probably still comfortable in there.” 

There really was nothing to worry about. Even if the damage was only on the surface, Guzma could always change Golisopod’s pokéball if the chip bothered him. His comment did nothing to erase the frown however.  
Deciding this was enough drama for one day, the kahuna stretched his stiff shoulders. The day had been less than ideal, but maybe they could at least end it on a happy note. Digging out his Ride Pager, Nanu scanned the list for the Charizard Glide.

“What do you say we head to a PokéCenter? After that, we could go and grab something to eat. I'm not in a mood for cooking anyway.”

Throwing the kid a look over his shoulder, Nanu walked off and headed towards his long forgotten grocery bags. Guzma didn’t budge, but he did glance at his way. He was still nursing the damaged ultra ball in his hand. 

“ Come on, I'll even let you decide what to get. I'm not a picky eater.” It wasn’t a bad deal, if you asked Nanu. 

Stopping next to his groceries, he sent out the request for their ride to come and pick them up. This had been a lengthy detour, hopefully all that food he had bought was still okay. As he waited to get a glimpse of the Charizard Glide, Nanu lit himself a cigarette. He had earned it.  
Soon a familiar presence graced his side. Guzma didn't say anything, but the kahuna noted their close proximity. The kid was standing just mere inches away from his side. It had to be the closest he had come to the kahuna on his own will. Releasing a puff of white smoke, Nanu felt his shoulders relax a little.

And so, they stood together under the starry sky, side by side. Tomorrow was going to be a new day. Maybe it would turn out to be better than this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the chapter three!
> 
> This time it took me a little longer to update. I ended up writing this chapter twice as I was trying to cram in too much information at first.
> 
> I also want to give a small explanation on the teams Guzma and Nanu have. In this fanfic, Guzma's team is somewhere between Lv.41-63 ( in game this would be between the battle in Aether Paradise and Hau'oli City). Nanu's team is slightly higher than Guzma's. I've also given Guzma his sixth pokémon, but we'll get to that later. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed your read. See you next time! 
> 
> All the comments are greatly appreciated! ^w^


	4. When it rains, it pours (part 1 )

After their misadventure in Akala Island, the clouds Nanu had spotted soon made themselves known. His prediction came true; they were not some happy floss of cumulus, but an angry, black mass of clouds that brought a tropical storm over the Alolan Islands. This time, the storm hit Akala Island worse, but Ula’ula was also getting its fair share of rain and thunder. 

The downpour had started early this morning, but despite the ghastly weather, today was the day Plumeria also paid a visit to the Station. And with her, she finally brought the long awaited clothes for Guzma. Holding three, plump shopping bags as she pushed through the door, it took Nanu one glance to figure the girl had outdone herself with this. Otherwise he would’ve been worried about the cost, but her comment of getting “good discount” still ghosted in the back of his mind. 

While her feat solved their clothing problem, to Nanu's discomfort, her appearance also caused a new kind of chaos in his home. The moment Guzma’s pokémon saw her face, the critters went wild. 

The kahuna was currently taking cover on his couch. Pushing the button on his remote control, Nanu tried to drown the annoying ruckus under the voice of the newscaster.

“A tropical storm Thundurus is blowing over the Alolan Islands. The storm surge...”

It was a futile attempt, all their happy chirping and clicking consumed his consciousness, making his ears hurt. Well, all expect Golisopod's.  
As Nanu watched Masquerain and Pinsir buzz around the Skull admin, it occurred the kahuna he hadn’t seen it since they came back from their trip. 

But he hardly had time to pay mind to this, because the sudden change in their routine also caused all his Meowths react differently. Some of them came to greet the quest properly, while others run rampant in the house, chasing after each other and quarreling. Shyest ones tried to hide themselves by climbing on shelves and dropping things as they went. The most severe case was Pepper, who sat angrily under the coffee table. Constantly hissing, it clawed anyone who dared to come close. 

With this bedlam going on, his Station was starting to resemble a zoo rather than his home. In the end, Guzma had to call his bugs back so they could simmer down at least some of the racket. 

After the formalities were done, Plumeria went straight to the business. Pushing two out of her three bags in Guzma’s hands, the excited admin ushered him in the bathroom, demanding herself a fashion round.  
While Guzma was trying his new clothes on, Plumeria joined Nanu by leaning against the sofa. They both watched in silence as the weatherman presented a front of storm clouds sweeping over the islands. Clearly impatient to see the outcome, her attention was snapped away from the screen as soon as the bathroom door opened. With soft steps, Guzma made his appearance in the living room.

“Well look at you!” Plumeria’s voice came out pleased, going so far as ending her praise with a low whistle.

Nanu also turned his head to see what had changed. 

While Plumeria had brought him different sets of garments, the ones Guzma had chosen were quite similar to the ones he wore as an adult. It came as no surprise that the main color scheme was black. Guzma had a long sleeved hoodie on, but it was put together in more detailed manner than his old one. It also had a logo on back, in black and white there stood a fierce looking Houndoom with a text that said “Hell Hound”. The kid had left the zipper halfway open, and underneath peeked a purple t-shirt.  
Despite the fact it was chilly, Guzma had picked shorts instead of pants. They hung loosely from his hips, covering his knees. The fabric was thick and had ornamental stitching on both sides. They also sported large pockets, which would come in handy when carrying pokéballs.

It was a casual look, but it definitely suited him, even Nanu had to admit that. Based on the smug smile, Plumeria also knew she had done a good job on clothing her tiny boss. 

“So, what do you think?” Looking him from head to toe for a good measure, she questioned. 

Words were not needed, the satisfied expression told them the kid was quite happy with this. But as this was Guzma, he just ended up shrugging nonchalantly while approaching his admin. 

“What can I say, I make everything look good.” 

Nanu had half a mind to tell the kid to thank her, but let it slide when Plumeria just looked amused. Next to her feet was the last bag she hadn’t handed to Guzma earlier. Bending down, she now revealed what was inside. 

“Okay, time for the mystery gift. Here, isn’t it adorable? ”

Almost bursting into an audible laugh, Nanu couldn't help but cackle quietly. Inside the smallest bag was a pokédoll. However, Nanu’s amusement wasn’t about the toy itself, but the way Guzma reacted to it.  
As soon as it came to view, the kid jerked back violently. With wide eyes, he was looking at the toy like she was holding a weapon to his face. 

“Plumes, what the heck? I don’t play with freaking dolls!” He screamed so high his voice broke, face turning pink with embarrassment. 

Plumeria just gave him a disapproving eye, before she turned to look at the soft pokémon in her hands. 

“Come on Guzma, Wimpod is your favorite.” She cooed to the pokédoll. Before Guzma could protest, she added: “Right after Golisopod, of course.” 

While Guzma couldn’t deny this, based on the look on his face, he wasn’t going to admit anything either. Noticing her boss was still looking distressed, she relented and gave him a bump on the shoulder.

“I didn’t buy it for you so you could play with it, dummy. I just thought to get it to keep you a little company while the real deal is away.” 

Nanu found their arrangement quite interesting; apparently they had a deal that Plumeria would take Golisopod with her if she ever needed herself “extra muscle” as a backup. And the current storm counted as one of those situations. 

“Ugh, FINE!” Accepting her present, Guzma snatched it from Plumeria’s hands. Giving the Wimpod a quick glance, he haphazardly shucked the toy towards the direction of Nanu’s couch. The doll landed nevertheless successfully on its target, laying belly up on the cushion. 

Plumeria puckered her lips in annoyance, which was answered with a dark glare. 

Before the two of them could start arguing, Nanu hurried to change the subject. Glancing at the horrible weather outside the window, the kahuna voiced his opinion: “Wouldn’t it be better if your family just evacuated until this blows over?” 

Plumeria made a face at him. “Try telling that to my Nana. She’s not going anywhere just because of “some drizzle and small wind”. She's as stubborn as a Mudbray and won’t leave her home even if it kills her.”

Sighing, she threw a tired look at the weather cast that was still playing on the television. 

“Which might actually happen. Last time we got hit by a storm this bad their trailer fell over and got stuck in the mud, it was a disaster. It’s for the best if I just go there and make sure they stay safe myself.” 

Turning back to Guzma, she gave him a small, but honest smile. Seemingly the pokédoll incident was already forgotten.

“Thank you for lending me Golisopod, he’s going to be a great aid.”

Looking past his admin, the kid started idly fumbling the sleeve of his new hoodie. 

“… No sweat, Plumes. I mean, it’s for you and all.” Guzma muttered. For some reason, as soon as the name of his favorite team member came up, he completely withdrew himself. 

Plumeria also seemed to notice this. Regarding him for a second, she suddenly leaned in and pinched his cheek.

“Heeey! What gives?” The kid flailed, clearly unhappy. He tried to smack her hand away lightly, but his half-hearted attempt for mutiny was futile. 

“Sorry, I have to. As long as you’re small and cute, I can get away with this.” She deadpanned with a serious face. 

Guzma sputtered and Nanu wanted to snort. The way Guzma acted and articulated, there wasn’t much to be called “cute”. Apparently the kid agreed with him. In rather squeaky voice, he protested the best he could. 

“I’m not cute!”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

Guzma was saved from his admin when a strong gust of wind started rattling the windows. Huffing tiredly, she quickly glanced at the clock that stood on the wall.

“I really need to get going. I still have things to take care of at the mansion before I’m ready to hit the road.”

Pushing himself up from the couch, Nanu flicked the television off. 

“Wait, I'll come to get some fresh air too.” It was his way of saying he was going out for a smoke. 

He had to unlock the door for the girl anyways. As the storm was suspected to only get worse, Nanu started keeping his front door double-locked, just for safety reasons. While the kahuna fumbled with his keys, Plumeria bid her farewells. One hand petting the few Meowths that lingered near her, she held an ultra ball to view. 

“You wanna say goodbye to Golisopod?”

“Nah, it's cool. I'll see him soon enough again. You know, don't want to make this weird or anything.” Guzma just waved her off. At the same time Nanu pushed the door open, letting the cold air inside.

“…Okay. Well, I'll see you when this ordeal is over.” Her hair blowing in the wind, she threw an unsure look over her shoulder.

With a small salute, the kid busied himself with trying to poke Pepper and not get scratched, paying no attention to them as they left the house.

\--xx--

As Nanu and Plumeria made their way outside, they tried their best to stay under the slim protection of the roof. His steps were already flooding and there was little you could do to get away from the wetness. It really was as bad as the weather cast had predicted. 

As soon as the door slammed shut, the girl threw him a question: “So, any idea what that was all about? “ 

First Nanu thought he'd tell her what had happened in Akala, but decided against it. It probably had nothing to do with this. Trying to light his cigarette in the wind, he ended up brushing it off with:

“Beats me, kids are weird like that. Maybe it's some kind of phase? He puts a lot of effort in order to look “tough”, after all.”

Silently mulling over his words, she leaned over to Nanu and covered his cigarette with her hand, trying to shield the flame of his lighter from the wind. The kahuna nodded in gratitude. 

“I guess you're right....” There was a small trace of doubt in her voice, but she didn’t push it. 

After a while, Plumeria gave Nanu a small glance.

“So, how have you two been holding up? “

Taking a deep drag, Nanu answered her as he released a puff of smoke.

“Just fine. He’s a tiny thing yet eats like a Snorlax. Leaves a huge mess in his wake too. But don’t worry, he won’t kick the bucket while I’m in charge.”

With a ghost of a smile rising to her lips, Plumeria just shook her head.

“Trust me, except for the height, nothing much has changed. But I didn’t exactly mean that. How are you two getting along?”

Nanu hadn’t expected that. Blinking slowly, the kahuna watched a ripped plastic bag go by in the wind. 

“Eh, not horrible. As well as one can manage with that brat, I suppose…?”

He said it, but to his own surprise, he didn’t fully mean it. Against all the odds, he was starting to get used to the child version of the Skull Boss. After defeating his gangly behind in a pokémon battle, Guzma’s attitude towards him had slightly changed. The kid was still obnoxious, but he had definitely become more tolerable.  
The moment was ruined by the sly look Plumeria was giving him. Apparently she wasn’t buying his sticks either. It made the older man grunt in dismay. 

With a fleeting grin, she showed him some mercy: “Great. Nice to know you’re not at each others throats all the time or anything.”

Nanu just grunted again, not having anything to say to this. 

“Well, time for me to get moving. If I keep spacing around like this, I won't get to the route 13 before evening.” And with that, she pushed herself off the wall and briskly walked away. Sloshing through a deep puddle, it was like she didn't even notice the water that soaked her pants. Living in Po Town did that to a person, Nanu pondered dully. 

Before she vanished in the curtain of heavy rain, Nanu yelled after her: “Stay safe, you hear me!”

He was able to make out Plumeria rising her fist in the air. The girl had guts and Nanu could appreciate that.

After finishing his smoke, Nanu slipped back inside and locked the door behind him.  
Shaking the water out of his hair, he noticed that Guzma had abandoned his living room while he was gone. Now, the kid was nowhere to be seen. 

Using the moment of silence he had in his expose, Nanu headed towards his work desk. He had a case file open there; it was time to continue his research.  
But the peace didn't last for long, and soon enough Nanu noticed that someone was trying to sneak past him. Guzma was hovering near the doorway, trying to quickly pull his shoes on.

“The door’s locked.” Not bothering to lift his gaze from his papers, Nanu informed helpfully.

Hand stopping over the door handle, Guzma froze, like he had been caught red-handed.  
“Uh... You wanna open it? I'm just gonna go and check if Plumeria's gone.”

Nanu turned a page.

“No, you’re not.” She had been gone for twenty minutes, he couldn’t miss her already. Or if this was about his pokémon, well, he would just have to suck it up. He should’ve said his goodbyes when he had the time. 

“But...”

“No buts, excepts yours inside the house. You heard the news, it’s one heck of a storm out there.” Besides, it was for the best if the kid didn’t go bother her right now. She had been right earlier; the faster she got to her destination, the better. 

Just then, the lights flickered off for a second. Nanu scrunched his nose in dismay. Hopefully they wouldn’t loose electricity because of this. Turning his attention back on his heavy tome of a file, he ended their conversation.

“The storm will pass and those two will be back before you know it. Just be patient.“

Guzma stood in the doorway, angrily eyeing the lock, before he gave up. Kicking off his sneakers, a frustrated grunt escaped him. As he went past the couch, Guzma suddenly stopped and bent down. Giving the kid a small glance, Nanu saw he had picked up a cat toy. 

The ragged thing the kid was holding had once been a stuffed Rattata. Now it was missing an ear and nose and due the poor stitching, its fillings were coming out from various places. But even if it was in a bad shape, Nanu couldn’t make himself to get rid of it. He had received it as a Christmas present from Acerola two years back. The toy was handmade and it was basically just two triangle shapes of gray felt stitched together. To make it more interesting, the Rattata had a long string as a tail and it held a small bell somewhere inside its body. 

If you looked past the fact it resembled nothing like the pokémon it was supposed to be, it was kind of cute. 

Giving the toy a testing swing, Guzma made a small whipping motion with the string. As the tail swung, immediately two of Nanu’s Meowths came to him. Gathering next to his feet, one of them gave Guzma a demanding meow, suggesting it was a play time.

Cocking his head a little as he watched the cats, Guzma suddenly threw Nanu a quick grin. Catching the look, the kahuna felt a small shiver go through his spine. He didn’t trust the face he was making, the kid was up to something.

Taking a slow step, careful to not step on his audience, Guzma made a new, larger swing. This time the bell also chimed and both Meowths followed after him. 

Apparently satisfied with the result, Guzma gave Nanu a lazy smirk. He kept questioning the kahuna: “You sure I can’t go out? Even for a small while?”

“Positive.” Nanu answered curtly. He wanted to concentrate on reading, but he was getting a little too suspicious of what the kid had in mind. 

On the outside, it looked like Guzma was just playing with his pets. Trying different techniques to tease them with the toy, he successfully kept them entertained. He was good at it, too. So good, in fact, that he was able to lure more of them to his side. Emerging from under the couch, two Meowths joined the game. 

Like the piper from stories, he walked a slow circle across the room, cats following after him. His next question caught the kahuna completely off guard. 

”Have you ever killed a man?”

Nanu almost dropped the case file from his hands. Lowering his reading glasses, he threw an annoyed glare at the kid. 

Guzma was grinning like madman. Using the Rattata as a “gun”, he pretended to shoot him. ”What? You said you were a secret agent. Thought you’d had to end a bad guy or two in your day.” 

Licking his thump before turning a page, Nanu cleared his throat. ”I don’t remember telling you anything of the sorts. It was you who said I’m an agent, I just didn’t bother to correct you back then.”

He received a dubious glare, which was followed by another tail whip. He was able to summon yet another curious creature to his side. Pepper, Nanu noted, came running from the kitchen. It had earned its name simply because of its fierce nature and upon arriving, it jumped high in the air, trying to steal the toy to itself. But Guzma was faster, lifting the Rattata out of its reach just before it could snatch it. Landing on the floor and hissing in annoyance, it tried to claw the kids feet as revenge. 

Ignoring the hostility, Guzma momentarily stopped next to Nanu’s bookshelf. Running his finger through one row of books, he complained: “Your house is so boring. It’s like an old folks home, but worse. You don’t even have any games in here, just some stupid old people books and moldy cat-pokémon magazines.”

“This is a police station, basically it’s not meant to be lived in.” He was now stuck on reading the same sentence the third time, thanks to the constant interruption.

“Why are you living here, then?” The kid quipped, sounding bratty. 

“The rent is cheap.” 

“Yeah, right.”

He was inching even closer to the kahuna. “Can you show me the cell unit?”

This time the whole Rattata was tossed in the air, making some of the Meowths jump after it. Their attempt was futile as the kid grabbed it before it fell down, but this motion made even more felines to join them. 

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because the urge to lock you there might get too great. Better not even humor the idea.”

The kid actually snorted a small laugh at that. He kept throwing the toy high in the air, again and again. This resulted a chorus of frustrated mews. Finally giving up, Nanu put the folder down and turned his full attention on the boy. The kid was relentlessly tormenting his audience with the stuffed rat, still not letting them have it. 

While watching Guzma, the kahuna couldn’t help but be a little compelled by this. In mere minutes Guzma had managed to round up all his Meowths, even the shyest ones. Gathered in a loose circle around him, they all waited him to release the Rattata for their enjoyment.  
The way Guzma treated them was teasing, but watching his display, the only word Nanu could describe him with was “natural”. If he just aimed his efforts into something positive, Guzma seemingly had an ability to work with pokémon. 

But this was where his amazement ended. Now that he was the center of everybody’s attention, Guzma finally gave the cats what they wanted. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he suddenly tossed the toy in Nanu’s direction, aiming and landing it successfully under his chair. Before Nanu could even move a muscle, the full pack of agitated Meowths ran towards him, seizing the Rattata next to his feet with bared claws.

In mere seconds, his life turned into agony and scratch marks. The kid had managed to work up his pets just fine. After waiting for the toy so long, they all attacked their target viciously, using every dirty trick to win the prize to themselves. While Nanu had to hold in a breath to prevent himself from yelping when one of the cats bit him, Guzma let out a soft:

“Ooops.” 

There was absolutely no remorse there. With a great mix of concentration and dedication, Nanu managed to kick the toy away. The Meowths immediately went after it, and he was happy he still had all his toes attached.

Knowing his prank didn’t go through as an accident, Guzma just smirked: “If you let me out of the house, I will also be out of your hair.” 

Nanu threw him a dirty look. So, that was his tactic? Bully him until he released the kid into the wild? Well, tough luck.

The key to his front door rested on his desk. Nanu reached for it slowly, before picking it up. He made a small show first flashing the key to Guzma and then dropping it to his breast pocket. This earned him the result he was going for. 

“Oh, come ooon!” Throwing his hands in the air, the kid groaned.

Feeling satisfied, Nanu slammed his folder shut. There was odd finality in that. After gathering his papers, he stood up and started limping towards his sanctuary. All the way to his office, he could feel Guzma's eyes on his back, staring at his actions. Just before he went inside, Nanu turned around. 

With a finger pointed towards the treshold, he grunted: “See this? This is the line where everything stops. Beyond this, no nonsense is allowed.” Not waiting for a reply, the kahuna stepped inside, shutting the door after him. 

\--xx- -

In the dim light of his desk lamp, Nanu inspected the damage his feet had suffered. Aside a few scratches and one set of bite marks, he had come off with pretty minimal causalities. He would have to put some antiseptic on his wounds later, but he would live. 

Which was a good thing, considering he had done nothing to deserve this treatment. It migh’ve been a little boring inside his home, but making this much racket about it was uncalled for. The kahuna didn’t understand Guzma's deal anyway, it didn’t take more than one gaze through the window to see it wasn’t a good idea to be outside. 

Knowing the kid was crafty, Nanu had left the office door slightly ajar. Just enough so he would hear if Guzma tried to mess with the lock. He listened for a while.  
At first there was some light rustling, and then, the sound of TV entered his home. Seemingly the brat had settled down. Feeling content by this, he let himself get absorbed in his reading. 

… Which, unfortunately, had become a mind-numbing experience. When he first started his research, Nanu had been at least a little hopeful he might find something useful. That turned out to be positive thinking. Not only there was nothing in these papers that could help them, but seemingly nothing ever happened on this island. All the reports were about stolen purses, vandalized walls, speeding with Tauros Charge; the list went on like that. Once there had been a case of a missing Herdier.

Nanu bit his lip in frustration, this storm was a really unlucky break for them. Checking these files had kind of been his plan B in the first place. Something to do before he worked up enough motivation to go to Malie City. What he really wanted to do was to visit the library, as it held a vast collection of books related to mysteries of pokémon. He also hoped to find something about the Ruins of Abundance there. But now, it all had to wait until the skies were clear again.

On a positive side, there had been one unexpected meeting that had sparked some inspiration within him; Professor Burnet.  
Surely this had nothing to do with Ultra Beasts, but the woman's extensive knowledge of things regular folk regarded as “unearthly” and “abnormal” piqued his interest. It was partly based on a gut feeling, but the kahuna wanted to get her involved in this, somehow.  
Unfortunately, as the situation was... Sensitive in its nature, it would be hard. He was pretty sure Guzma would be against it if he tried to get an outsider involved.  
What made things even more complicated was the fact she was Kukui's wife. He wasn't sure what the beef between those two was, but he knew Guzma wasn't on friendly terms with the Pokémon Professor. 

And so, Nanu let this thought drift away... At least for the time being. 

He worked in silence for half an hour, tuning out the noise that came from the other room. He was doing fine, until a cold breeze suddenly caught him, flipping his papers and causing a shiver go through him. He probably should wear a warmer shirt and... Wait. 

Eyes widening with realization, Nanu quickly stood up. Hurrying his way out, the reason for the coldness came apparent the moment he exited his office. 

He had locked his door, sure. But apparently he hadn't secured everything. The curtains were fluttering in the wind as one of the windows was pushed open slightly. Just enough so that one 10 year old brat could squeeze himself through it. Now Guzma's earlier stunt made more sense to him. The kid hadn't expected him to open the door in the first place. He wanted to get rid of him all together so he could make his great escape. 

“Clever kid.” He muttered to himself as he walked up to the window and pushed it open all the way. 

Poking his head out, the kahuna quickly checked if he could still see Guzma. He had a feeling the kid hadn't left too long ago, but all he could see was the depressingly gray landscape that was being pelted down with rain. No Guzma was to be found. 

Slamming his window shut, Nanu retrieved back inside. There was no reason to get soaked over this matter. If the kid really wanted to leave this badly and head into the storm, who was he to stop him? 

Shuffling quietly to his couch, he sat down. The TV was already open, he might as well enjoy it. He was probably slaving over his papers for nothing anyway. All the kid ever did was pester him and cause him trouble. He had no need for this nonsense.

While Nanu was trying to get comfortable, Pepper came to him and jumped on the couch. Joining the brooding kahuna, it let out a questioning purr. Offering his pet a small smile, Nanu picked it up and placed it on his lap. With long, calm strokes he started petting its fur.

“So, I guess it's just you and me, Pep. We're going to have a nice, calm evening all to ourselves. How do you like that?” The Meowth just sat there, looking at him with half-closed lids. They stayed like this for a while.

“It's probably for the best the kid left on his own. I mean, if I'm honest with you, I have no idea if there's anything I can do for him. I've read through almost every case file stored in this Station, and there hasn't been anything worthwhile. I was meaning to go and check out the ruins with him, but... It's less work for me this way. So, good riddance. Now I don't have to kick him out myself if nothing turns out.” He was letting all his resent frustration out in one go. 

Pepper still gave him a blank look, but at least it was a good listener. Normally, this would've been an ideal evening for Nanu. Just sit alone with his Meowths, watching telly and having no-one else to bother him. But somehow, his home was feeling a little empty. 

The only sound, aside his TV, was the wind that loudly rattled his windows again. It was making it hard to concentrate on the show that was playing on the screen.

“In a storm like this, he'll probably end up being blown to Poni Island. He's such a tiny bloke. Not that it's any of my business.” He pondered out loud.

His companion yawned.

“And if he somehow survives the weather, how is he going to find Plumeria anyway? The girl's likely half across the island by now. What is he going to do? Swim after her? That kid never thinks things trough...”

Finally, Pepper seemed to have enough. Standing up, it came to lean against Nanu's chest and started tapping the Z-crystal that hung on his neck. When the annoyed kahuna tried to stop this, he got hissed at.

“Don't give me that. If the kid doesn't want to take my advice, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not his darn babysitter.” He grumbled. Pepper still hissed at him, before jumping off of his lap.

Nanu managed to sit still for about 2 more minutes. Then, he got up and marched to his bedroom. Clad in a long raincoat and armed with a flashlight, he was ready to leave his home in less than 5 minutes.

Unlocking the door, the kahuna was about to step outside, when Pepper gave him a questioning mew from the floor. It had come to see him off. Turning around one last time, Nanu told the cat:

“If I'm not back in few hours, call the cops.”

\--xx- -

Upon entering the outside world, Nanu soon realized he wasn’t prepared for this. He had to dig his heels in the mud as the wind was so harsh it almost pushed the unsuspecting kahuna over. The weather had definitely gotten worse within the past few hours. Despite this, Nanu forced himself to move. His first stop was Po Town. If he was really lucky, maybe Plumeria, as well as Guzma, were there. 

When he reached the gates, there was a lone grunt lingering at the entrance. The ruffian flat out refused to let him in, but he reluctantly told the kahuna that their admin had left a while ago. This was all he managed to squeeze out of him. When he tried to ask if the grunt had seen a young kid, the annoyed delinquent just turned him away.  
Cursing under his breath, Nanu made an u-turn and started heading towards the route 15. Maybe he could at least reach the kid before he got himself killed. 

In order to get to the shore, first he had to cross the Ula'ula Meadow. As he arrived, Nanu noted how the effects of the storm was more evident there. The crimson flowers that grew across the field were now drooping and the ground under the boardwalk was turning into a small lake.

While the meadow had seen its better days, this was where the kahuna got his lucky break.

In the midst of the never-ending mist, he saw a dark shadow moving. As soon as it spotted him, it froze, before quickly sliding on the ground and vanishing under the boardwalk.

Frowning slightly, Nanu pulled his hood deeper. If that was Guzma, he had to make his move carefully.  
Coming up with a simple strategy, Nanu marched on. Making his way forward, he casually crossed the wet blanks and stopped approximately where he saw the mysterious form. Taking a deep breath, Nanu closed his eyes and listened. The heavy rain was loudly drumming the wooden surface, but his ears picked up a faint sound of something moving under his feet. Bingo. 

Pretending to take a step ahead, Nanu suddenly swooped down and successfully grabbed onto something. 

“HEEEYYYY!!” 

After some struggling, he managed to fish his prey out of its hideout. He was secretly relieved to see Guzma's angry face, as he lifted him to stand in front of him. 

“Let me go!” The kid growled.

“Hmm, I rather wouldn't. You know what they say; gotta catch them all.”

Their trip to Akala had taught him one thing; never let go too soon. Nanu just tightened his grip on the kids hoodie. It was covered in slimy mud.  
Nanu grunted in dismay. After his small adventure under the boardwalk, Guzma's new clothes were now caked in dirt. On top of that, he wasn’t even wearing a jacket, let alone longer pants. Watching him stand there in his shorts, Nanu was getting cold even from looking at him. 

“What on earth were you thinking?” Shaking his head, Nanu huffed quietly. His question was good for at least three different topics. 

“What do you care? Just let me go!” The answer was accompanied by a venomous glare. Apparently Guzma wasn't on a chatty mood.

Neither was Nanu. As he stood there, exposed to elements and getting soaked, his earlier annoyance started creeping back. 

“I don't, not exactly. But you're currently a minor and it's against my job description to let anything bad happen to you. We're getting back, it's not safe out here.” With that, he turned on his heels and started dragging the kid towards the Station. But Guzma put up surprisingly feisty resistance. 

“You don't understand! I HAVE TO get to Plumeria before she leaves!” Trying his hardest to gain at least some kind of footing on the slippery blanks, the kid growled. 

When Nanu turned to give him a tired look, he was surprised to see the grim expression Guzma wore on his face. He was being completely serious about this. 

Heaving a sigh, Nanu stopped his marching and faced him one last time: “If you want me to even consider your...Request, then tell me, what exactly I don't understand here.” 

“...I’m not sure if Golisopod will come out of its ball.” 

Nanu let go of his wrist. They stood still for a moment. When the kahuna kept looking puzzled, Guzma confessed: 

“Look, it hasn't come out of its ball after we lost in Akala, okay? I mean, it could be nothing. Golisopod sometimes does that if its angry with me. I usually just let it be until its not stupid anymore. ”

His explanation was vague, but Nanu somewhat understood where he was going with this. 

“So, you think your Golisopod doesn't come out, because it doesn't want to see you?” The kahuna scoffed. The idea of the bugtype being as hardheaded as its trainer was faintly amusing. But Guzma didn't see the humor here.

“Maybe, but... You saw the dent on the ball, right? How bad did it look to you?” He asked gravely. 

Nanu blinked. Thinking back, he tried to envision his ultra ball from that night. In all honesty, his attention had been directed mostly on the kid and not his pokéball.  
It was true he had seen pokéballs get pretty wrecked, and it hadn't been even close to that, but... If Guzma had damaged the inner mechanism, it was possible that the ball was broken. Sometimes busted pokéballs got jammed shut and if that was the case, it might be that Golisopod couldn’t get out even if it tried. 

In that instant, nothing about this seemed funny anymore. Instead, a feeling of dread took over him, making him grunt more vehemently that necessary: “What were you thinking?”

Not waiting for a reply, he went on: “Your pokémon might be in serious trouble and you didn't actually do anything to make sure this isn’t the case. Guessing is not good enough.”

“I…” Guzma tried to cut in, but Nanu wasn’t finished.

“On top of that, you just handed the person who I assume is your best friend a potentially busted pokéball when she’s really going to needed it. Without a single word of warning! Why would you do such a thing?” 

As he was being accused, Guzma grew more and more agitated. By the time Nanu stopped, his eyes were burning with defensive anger:

“I don't have to tell you that!!” The kid yelled at him. 

Again, they were stuck in a silent glaring match. It was becoming a habit between the two of them. But surprisingly, it was Guzma who finally gave in. 

“...We can stand here arguing about this, while she's getting away. I just need to know if the ball is okay or not.” Casting his eyes sideways, he muttered. 

The kid had a point. This was getting them nowhere and time wasn't something they had. Against his better judgement, Nanu made a decision:

“If we’re doing this, you’re going to follow my instructions. What I tell you to do goes, and that’s final. I don't want any funny business.” 

Relieved expression passing his features, Guzma gave him a single nod. For once, the kid looked like he was being serious. Putting what little trust he had in this, Nanu pointed a thump towards the shore.

“Let's go.”

\--xx--

When Guzma and Nanu finally arrived at the route 15, the beach was empty. With no living soul at sight, the roaring of the ocean was their only welcome. The monstrous waves raised their backs from the dark waters, reaching high like they were trying to touch the sky. 

Walking to the water's edge, they both tried to shield their eyes from the rain, hoping to get even a glimpse of Plumeria. The task seemed impossible, until suddenly, a crack of lightning split the sky, momentarily lighting the area. In that brief moment, Nanu was able to make out a small form crossing between the high waves, only to disappear in the darkness again. 

His heart thumped wildly, that had to be the girl. No one else was crazy enough to cross the small waterway in this weather. 

“I saw her! She's out there!” Guzma had spotted her too. 

It was too bad that the Sharpedo Jet was already in use; they would have to go for a plan B. 

Tapping his Ride Pager, the Lapras Paddle soon appeared from the midst of the waves. It was a slower form of transport, but it had to do.  
Due the high waves its swimming was labored, but the pokémon was making its way towards the kahuna nevertheless. 

While they waited their ride to arrive, Guzma started chattering: 

“If Golisopods ball is broken... Is there anything we can do about it?”

Eyes fixed on the sea, Nanu told him: “I'm going to need my tool kit, but yes. If your ultra ball really is jammed shut, I’m going to break it open and release your pokémon manually.”

“... Can you do that?”

When Nanu frowned at him, the kid shrugged: “You don't look like a handyman to me, that's all.”

“I've done it in the past. If you know where to poke, it's not that hard to pull off.” Nanu huffed.

At the same time, the Lapras Paddle reached the shore. Guzma hurried to mount the Lapras, while Nanu stood back, thinking. What they were about to do was dangerous and he probably should leave Guzma behind while he went after Pumeria.  
But his gut feeling told him the kid would find a way to follow after him. At least he could keep an eye on him if he kept him close. 

And so, the kahuna and the kid climbed on their ride. As they got further away from the land, it became clear that crossing the murky waters was going to be a hard task. But despite that, they were slowly catching up with the retrieving pokémon rider. If they kept this pace up, they would reach her about the same time she arrived on the opposite shore. 

As their distance grew shorter, Guzma was becoming more anxious. They were hardly within the earshot, when he cupped his hands and yelled at the sea:

“PLUMERIA!”

But then, without a warning, the Lapras stopped. Looking baffled, Guzma threw the pokémon an annoyed glare. Giving it a light push with his heels, the kid tried to coax it to move.

“Come ooon! You can’t be so tired you’re just giving up now! We almost caught up with her!” Guzma growled impatiently.

But Nanu frowned. Carefully regarding the ride pokémon, the kahuna placed his hand on its side. Against his long fingers, he could feel a strong shiver going though its body. It wasn’t tired, oh no. It was too afraid to move.  
Leaning slightly over the side, Nanu gazed in the water. And he was able to see it. A massive, dark shadow of a monstrous fish swam right under them. His only warning was a glimpse of glowing eyes before the beast made itself known. 

With a booming crash, a column of water broke the surface and a Wishiwashi jumped high in the air. Completing a full arc, it passed right over their heads before diving back in the ocean. This was followed by a ruthless after wave that washed over the Lapras Paddle and its riders. Nanu had to grab Guzma by the shoulders as the kid got almost knocked into the ocean. 

Spitting water from his mouth, Guzma gasped, voice laced with confusion: “You can't be serious! Why are those crybabies ganging up on us, we did nothing to harm them!”

Nanu didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to get another glimpse of the beast that was lurking underneath, likely trying to ambush them.  
But what Guzma said was right. Wishiwashi’s weren't usually aggressive, and they didn't attack unless someone was menacing them. The storm was likely to be blamed for this. The sudden change in their otherwise calm territory had probably scared them and to cope with the stress, they had joined forces by taking a school form. There was strength in numbers, after all.

Coming to his conclusion, the kahuna watched as the Wishiwashi came back to the surface. Keeping its distance, this time it floated near the waterline, right behind them. 

“Scared by the storm, aren'tcha...?” Nanu muttered darkly. This was not funny.

The Wishiwashi backed away slightly, before it let out a hollow grumble. It was still trying to decide whether to attack or not.

Using this time to his advantage, Nanu slowly slipped his hand in his pocked, fumbling around to grab any of his pokéballs. No matter how anxious the beast was, he wasn’t about to become fish food. Catching what the kahuna was doing, Guzma gave him a curt nod.

But oddly enough, no matter how hard he searched, the only thing in his pocket was the flashlight. With a squeeze of horror, the realization hit him. He had no pokémon. He had left in such a hurry he forgot to actually take his team with him. Getting impatient, Guzma grabbed onto his jacket, shaking his sleeve.

“What are you doing? If you don’t send out a pokémon and fast, that thing will crush us. Just attack already!” The kid hissed. 

“I… don’t have my team with me.”

“What!” The kid yelped in disbelief, throwing him a bewildered glare. Not daring to take his eyes off of the Wishiwashi, Nanu whispered:

“You’re also a trainer, aren’t you. You have to send one of yours against that thing.”

“Are you nuts?! My Pinsir can hardly swim and Masquerain would be blown to the ocean if I release it here! Those two are all I have!”

Biting his lip, Nanu had to begrudgingly admit that Guzma was right. His team at hand would hardly be any help in this situation. The only pokémon Guzma had that could save them now was the one they had set out to rescue. Life was full of irony.

At the same time, the Wishiwashi made its mind. Water splashing, it charged, steering straight towards the Lapras. Nanu tried to yell a command, but it was in vain; the ride pokémon was immobilized by fear. All he could do was to watch in horror as the aquatic monster made its way towards them.

But just when it looked like hope had abandoned them, something unexpected happened. 

There was a low, whistling type of sound, and a shell was lunged at their way.  
It hit its target just in time, colliding against the Wishiwashi's head before it could attack the Lapras. Taking in the damage, the Wishiwashi let out an angry roar and dived again.

Not quite believing his eyes, Nanu turned to see where the attack had come from. And he couldn't be happier to see who had come to their rescue.

Sitting tight on the Sharpedo Jet was Plumeria. And right next to her, in the ocean swam Guzma’s Golisopod. Waving her hand, the trio was making their way towards them.

But before the Skull admin could get there, the Wishiwashi came back. Resurfacing, it had now changed its target. In a vengeful fit of rage the wild pokémon aimed an angry spurt of water towards its attacker. Golisopod dodged it by dashing to its left, successfully luring its opponent away from the others.

The two water types swam in slow circles, their fluid movements making it look like they were dancing around each other.  
However, this almost elegant display had a crude end, when the Wishiwashi suddenly made its move. Without warning, it collided head on against Golisopod and sunk its teeth on the bugs shoulder armor. While holding its prey in place, a sphere of water started to gather in its mouth. The Wishiwashi was going to shoot Golisopod from close range.

Guzma, who had been just as stunned by their situation as Nanu, stirred back to life when his pokémon was being attacked right before his eyes. Anger evident in his voice, the kid yelled out a command: 

“GOLISOPOD! USE SUCKER PUNCH!!”

It was a good call. The advantage the Wishiwashi had claimed now turned out to be its downfall, when Golisopod sucker punched it square in the jaw. The raw strength the bug had was so great it caused a tremor that traveled over the water. Even while sitting on the Lapras, Nanu could feel it. 

It was enough to do the trick. Sending its opponent flying backwards, the isopod was able to knock the Wishiwashi away from its body. As soon as its jaws came loose, the attack it had been preparing was also released. Roaring, it shot a ball of water in the air where it exploded, melting into rain. After its attack missed, the Wishiwashi also lost its school form. Nanu watched in a small awe as the menacing beast broke down, turning into a herd of tiny, teary-eyed fishes. Crybabies, indeed.

Unfortunately, the loud explosion was the last drop for their distressed ride pokémon. Scared by the sound, the Lapras Paddle dived. There was nothing they could’ve done to stop this. As the aquatic creature sunk under the surface, it took both Guzma and Nanu with it. 

The cold weather was nothing compared to the frozen temperature of the ocean. Nanu almost let out what little oxygen he had managed to gather in his lungs as the sensation of being stabbed by thousand needles took over his skin.

Trying to swim away from the pokémon, Nanu saw Guzma kicking himself away from their ride, floating closer to the surface. But for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, Nanu couldn't get away from the seat. Panic was evident in Guzma's eyes as he watched Nanu being dragged further in the depths by the Lapras.

Wildly searching for the cause, Nanu suddenly realized that the belt of his raincoat was wrapped around the handlebar. He was stuck. 

His hands went feverishly fumbling to open the buttons, but the task was slow and painful, as he could hardly operate his fingers in the freezing water. By the time he got himself freed, he was already swallowed by darkness. The surface was just a tiny speck of light, so far away it seemed impossible to reach.

His survival instinct kicking in, Nanu used all his muscle power to fight the heavy water that surrounded him. But the underwater current was overpowering and no matter how hard he struggled, he wasn't getting any closer to the surface.  
His growing panic was turning into desperation, when suddenly, a huge claw was wrapped around him. He felt how something even bigger moved next to him, before he was tugged against a hard, smooth shell. And then, his whole world started moving .

The kahuna barely even understood what had happened, when his head suddenly popped back to the surface. Gasping for air loudly, a low moan escaped him. Taking in shaky breaths, it felt like his lungs were on fire. But he was alive. Close to him, someone else was also trying to cough water out of their system.

Paddling to reach his Golisopod, Guzma extended his hand before he latched on its other arm. Apparently the kid had swallowed some water, but he seemed otherwise well. Wrapping a claw around its trainer securely, the bug pulled him close.  
As they hung loosely on the creatures grip, Nanu was silently happy it didn’t harbor any hard feelings towards him for blasting it with a Z-move last time they saw each other. 

Golisopod had saved their lives.

But seemingly they were not out of harm's way just yet. The Sharpedo Jet now approached them, carrying on its back something even scarier than the Wishiwashi they had encountered. Emitting a dark aura, Plumeria's eyes burned with barely contained anger. 

“Are you guys insane?!? What the hell are you doing here?” She roared over the storm, her fist swinging high in the air. She looked ready to bonk them in the head at the first given opportunity. Despite her wrath, Guzma threw a relieved look on her.

“Plumes, you’re… Okay.”

The softly spoken words made her falter. Fist slowly lowering back on her lap, she glared at them. 

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

Guiltily eyeing first his pokémon and then shifting his gaze on his admin, Guzma begun to answer: “We had to come after you because I…”

But before he could finish his confession, Nanu cut in: “Because I was fussing over the weather. I got the kid all anxious if you’d be able to cross the sea and he just wouldn’t relax before he saw you were okay. It’s all my fault, should’ve known you could handle it.” As the words escaped his lips, he could feel Guzma staring at him.

Plumeria, on her part, listened their excuse with a blank face. Then, her stern lips started cracking into a small smirk. 

“Ooo-kay. Well, as you can see, we’re doing just fine.” She looked unconvinced yet faintly amused.

Leaning to pat the Sharpedo on the head, she added: “Better than you guys anyway. Need a ride back to the shore?”

Shivering from the cold, Nanu threw her a sheepish grin. She was fierce, but apparently also easy to placate.

“If you’d be so kind.”

Next to him, Guzma inched closer to Golisopod. Now that they had appeased Plumeria, he was trying to make amends with his pokémon. 

“Hey buddy.” Being surprisingly gentle, Guzma reached to touch Golisopods head. He ran his fingers down its hard shell before settling on its chin, giving it a trying scratch.  
At first Golisopod stayed passive, but as the hands kept petting it, it finally gave in. With a pleased whir, it leaned to touch the kid with its antennas. Apparently all was okay between the two of them.

When the bug started to bump its head against Guzma's cheek, Plumeria stopped their affectionate display by clearing her throat: 

“Okay you knuckleheads, that’s enough. Haul your sorry behinds from the water this instant, it must be freezing in there.” 

Extending a hand to Guzma, Plumeria granted him a teasing smirk. While she lifted the kid up, Nanu had to help himself to climb on Golisopod’s back. When everybody was out of the water, their new ride dashed forward, leading the way towards the land. 

Just before they reached the shore, Plumeria turned to address her company: 

“By the way, guys...” Her voice was sweet, but it held hidden menace. It was enough to make the hair stand up on the back of Nanu's neck. 

“Make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Because if I have to come to your rescue in the future, I don’t care whose fault it is. I will end the both of you.” She finished her threat with a small smile.

Eyes wide, they both ended up stuttering a shaky: “Yes, Ma´am.”

\--xx- -

After Plumeria dropped them off, they got to the Station without any further accidents. As they entered the house, they were truly a sad sight; both soaked to skin and dripping mud all over the floor. 

While Guzma took a shower, Nanu changed his clothes to something dry and cozy.  
After he deemed himself presentable, the kahuna busied himself in his small kitchen; making tea seemed appropriate course of action. His kettle whistled and soon Nanu put down two mugs full of hot liquid, seating himself with a tired sigh. 

Watching tea leaves turn the water reddish brown, he couldn't help but shake his head; in the end, they had been no help whatsoever. He felt a little bad for Plumeria. The Skull admin ended up doing her trip twice, all thanks to them. But on a bright side, they now knew for a certain that there was nothing wrong with Golisopods pokéball. 

His musings came to an abrupt end when Guzma appeared on the doorway. Instead of wearing his old t-shirt, the kid had a brand new tank top and pajama pants on. Everything was bug-themed, of course. Plumeria really had thought of everything.

Gesturing towards the mug of hot beverage, Nanu motioned Guzma to join him. Without a word, the kid padded in the kitchen and plopped down on a seat next to him. They sat in relaxed yet a little uncomfortable silence for a while, both of them nursing their drinks and not looking at each other. Finally, Guzma broke the ice:

“Why didn’t you tell her I wasn’t sure if the pokéball was okay or not?” He questioned quietly. His voice sounded a little raspy.

Nanu hummed in his mug before answering:

“...There was no need to cause unnecessary drama. You know how women are. She doesn’t need to know everything.” If he was completely honest with himself, even the kahuna wasn’t fully sure why he saved the brat. It had simply felt like the right thing to do.

Guzma run a thump over the brim of his mug, seemingly mulling over something. After a short pause, he suddenly said: “I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them, honest. It’s just..”

Sighing, he threw Nanu a small glance. “When she last time went to make sure that everything was fine, things got pretty out of hand. She really needs Golisopod there. I didn’t wanna tell her that she was in a same pinch as last time because I ruined it for her.” 

Nanu was ready to buy this, but his confession went on: “...And, maybe, if she found out that the pokéball was busted, she might have come back. It’s a lot safer here than in that trailer park anyway.”

Nanu frowned lightly. Guzma was... an interesting person. He was definitely selfish and didn’t think his actions through, yet he hadn’t done this because he was mean spirited. The way he had run into the storm after the guilt started setting in spoke volumes for that, but... It was clear he didn't understand that those people were important to Plumeria, which was the reason she was willing to take the risk. Still, somewhere down there was something good, too. 

“What about her family? Don’t you think she would be sad if something bad happened to them?” Trying to open this idea to him, Nanu asked.

He only got a halfhearted shrug. “Whatever. Families are dumb anyway…” 

The kahuna had nothing to say to that. Which was okay, as the kid changed their topic:

“Nanu?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks for, you know. Helping me out and all.”

Nanu had to clear his throat as he almost choked on his tea. He hadn't expected the kid to actually thank him. 

“It's fine, kiddo. “ He managed to cough. Nanu was going to leave it there, but something made him add: “There are plenty of times when you can figure things out yourself. But take it from me, life is not easy. From time to time, we all end up needing a friend or few to get through it.”

Taking a small sip from his mug, Guzma fell silent again. 

Mimicking his company, Nanu finished his tea with a long swing. He was completely beat and thanks to their little adventure, his back was also killing him. A small nap would fix that. It was a little too early to hit the hey for good, after all.

”I’m going to catch a wink. Wake me up in an hour, I’ll make us dinner then.” Sitting up, he simply left his mug on the table. He would wash it later.

“Yeah, sure.” Still busying himself with his tea, Guzma just nodded to him. 

With that, the kahuna walked off, heading towards his bedroom. He didn't even bother to take off his slippers as he nearly collapsed on his bed. He was sound asleep in mere minutes.

\--xx--

His quick nap turned out longer than expected. Nanu woke up with a startled jolt, when a soft paw touched his cheek.  
There was a heavy weight on his chest, and the kahuna pried his eyes open to see the culprit. A pair of lazy eyes stared back at him. The Meowth sat on top of him, and based on the suggestive purring, it was asking for food. 

“Okay, okay... I'm awake.” He murmured, gently pushing the feline off. The floorboards creaked under his feet as he sluggishly got himself out of the bed. 

Feeling rather groggy, his alarm clock informed Nanu that he had slept the entire evening and then some. It was currently 06:27 in the morning. 

So... Guzma hadn’t bothered to wake him up, then. Slightly annoyed by this and the fact he had slept in, Nanu exited his bedroom. After skipping a meal yesterday, he was starving and more than ready to start preparing breakfast. As soon as he had fed his Meowths, of course.

But when he entered his living room, the kahuna found out he would need more than a cup of coffee and scrambled eggs to fix the situation that awaited him there. During the hours he had spent snoozing, things had taken a turn to worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, what is this? A cliffhanger? After all the horrible things they already went through, what else could possibly go wrong?!
> 
> ...That, we'll find out next time. ;3
> 
> But first, thank you for reading chapter 4! I turned out a bit longer than I expected, but I hope it wasn't too heavy to go through. :>
> 
> I'm using a lot of time in the beginning just so Guzma and Nanu can get used to each other. In the future, I'll try and get the plot advancing, too. They just have to live through the storm first. 
> 
> Also, about Plumeria's "family"; I based this to the fact she can be found inside one of the trailers at route 13 in post game. I always assumed they might be her relatives, so... I just run with the idea. Cx
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you so much for all your lovely feedback! Your words encourage me and keep me going. <3


	5. When it rains, it pours (part 2 )

When Nanu exited his bedroom, his whole apartment was lulled in deep calm. The storm made itself known by loudly howling in the drafty corners, but otherwise there were no signs of life inside his home. His hungry Meowth leading the way, the kahuna shuffled to his kitchen, unaware of what awaited him in the other room.  
Once he started banging the familiar cupboards, the rest of his pack started appearing, all eager to eat. After the task was done and his pets were happy, he noted that there was still one extra mouth missing that had to be fed. 

With intention of asking Guzma’s opinion about the breakfast, Nanu headed towards the living room, only to stop in his tracks as he reached the doorway. Frowning, he fixed his eyes on the odd display that was taking over his furniture. Guzma was lying on the couch with his face buried in the cushions. One leg hanging half way over the edge, he was sprawled over the surface in a manner that hinted he had just crashed there and stayed. He hadn’t even bothered to fetch his blanket, let alone put on the sheets that nested in a small basket next to his makeshift bed.

Cocking his head, Nanu approached him slowly. 

“Hey, kid. You dead?” 

When the lump that was his “guest” didn’t even budge, Nanu’s frown deepened and he crouched next to him. Taking a light grip on his shoulder, he started shaking him gently. 

“Guzma, wake up. Hey.” 

His efforts were rewarded when a small groan escaped the kid. Slowly, Guzma stirred and started to turn on his side. The kahuna was about to say something, but swallowed his words when his face came to view. Guzma’s cheeks were burning red, while the rest of his skin seemed paler than usual. Blinking, like he was trying to focus on Nanu’s face, a small cough escaped him. 

“Did an hour pass already?” The kid slurred. 

Without a word, Nanu slipped his hand on the boy’s forehead. The lack of resistance was his first clue, but the contact with his skin confirmed his suspicion. He was sticky with sweat and definitely warm to touch; the kid had a small fever going. 

Well, considering the fact that Guzma had been running around in a storm last night, it was really no surprise he had gotten ill.  
Which now presented a new kind of problem to the kahuna; he had never taken care of a sick human being. Despite the popular belief, Nanu himself had been blessed with pretty much impeccable health and small flu’s aside he could remember only three or four cases of being really sick himself as he reached adulthood.

The fact that he was a pokémon trainer didn’t exactly help either. When his team got hurt, it was usually something he could take care of with berries, potions or different kinds of healing salves. If things got too hairy, he would rush them to PokéCenter and everything would be fine afterwards.

The boy coughed again. Starting with the question that was first in priority, Nanu asked: “How are you feeling?”

“…Dunno. My throat hurts.” 

Nodding, he stood up. He was no doctor, but at least he knew the basics. 

“Wait here.”

Crossing his small apartment swiftly, the kahuna went straight to the bathroom where his medicine cabinet was. Opening the metallic box that stood over the sink, Nanu took in the sight of his medical supplies. He had a respectable collection of everything a pokémon trainer could ever need, but sadly, in the midst of revives and repels, there wasn’t much you could use on humans. As he rummaged through his selection, trying to find something useful for his own species, Nanu’s thoughts started to drift to his own mother. She had been a practical and nature loving woman, who preferred using natural remedies to cure basic illnesses. Nanu had more faith in modern medicine than she ever did, but he couldn’t deny that her recipes were effective. What was the “secret ingredient” she had used on every instance? Chansey Egg Powder?

It made sense, it was highly nutritious and probably had other healing qualities as well. Whenever he had gotten sick as a boy, she’d start adding and baking it in all of his meals. And sure enough, he never stayed bedridden for long. If only he had that in stock, it would probably make Guzma better, too. 

Finally, Nanu found a small package of Aspirin. It was simple pain medicine, but hopefully it would do the trick to also reduce fever. Breaking the plastic foil with his thump, the kahuna dropped two white pills on his palm. There was only two more left in the package. 

When these were done, he had nothing else to give the kid. Well, it wasn't like he could've predicted this.

“Though luck. It was his own choice to go out and get himself sick in the first place. He has to pull himself together with this.” Nanu huffed quietly.

After fetching the medicine, Nanu forced Guzma up and sent him to get some water for himself. Meanwhile, the kahuna got fresh sheets and made his bed properly.  
A scowl cemented on his face, he spread the white fabric over the cushions. Fussing like this was making him feel a little silly. Even if Guzma had gotten remarkably younger, the kid wasn’t a toddler for crying out loud. A boy his age should be preparing for his Island Challenge, not… Well, he was sick, but still! Making sure to smooth out all the wrinkles, Nanu decided that coddling wasn’t something he did. 

Even with his resolution solid, he managed to keep his mouth shut when Guzma got back. Mostly because the kid was white as a Vulpix and looked he could barely stand without support. 

Once the bed was made and the patient tucked under the blankets, things simmered down again. Guzma had no qualms in resting on the couch, munching cereals and letting the TV entertain him. Not even the Meowths were in a mood of making any mischief, they all lazied around the house, gathering their energy until it was time to go outside again.  
Nanu himself sat in his office, isolated from the rest, but he had left the door open in case the kid needed anything. Idly, he browsed his papers and listened the sounds of the storm. His gutters were groaning deeply with the excessive amounts of water they had to pass and one overgrown tree branch kept knocking his window, but it was only a matter of days now before this ordeal was over. The weather forecast had predicted the storm would be over by the end of the week and he definitely appreciated the fact he could go to smoke outside again. 

His concentration was broken every now and then, when the kid got a bad coughing fit. Listening him hack with a small wince of sympathy, Nanu admitted his condition was a shame, but he wasn’t worried. People got sick all the time; it was called common cold for a reason. If Guzma stayed in bed and rested well, he would be up and running in no time. And while waiting, Nanu got himself a small break from all the nonsense he spouted as regular basis. 

He only had to get up once when Guzma called his name, asking for extra blankets.

\--xx--

Nanu stopped working for good around the noon when he hit the limit of how much reading he could stomach in one go. To balance out the long periods of sitting, he needed something to do with his hands and cooking sounded like a perfect solution.  
Setting up on a task of making them an early lunch, he was surprised to see his fridge being pushed to its limits again. They were running out of certain ingredients faster than you could say “Alola”, and to meet Guzma's ravenous tendencies, it probably would've been easier to own a Miltank than run to the store every two days. Cheaper, too. Letting his musings entertain him, Nanu started neatly chopping down the vegetables to go in a waiting pot. 

Later when he appeared in the living room with a steaming hot plate of soup, he found Guzma lying sideways, eyes glued to some game show that was playing on TV. He had made a formidable base for himself with the extra blankets given to him and now buried in his warm cocoon, he also had a flock of admirers surrounding him. There was a totality of four Meowths gathered around him, happily hogging the warmth. 

The setting looked enviably cozy, Nanu noted, as he lowered the plate on the coffee table.

“Here, I brought you lunch. Do you need something to drink?”

Without even taking his eyes from the screen, Guzma rasped nonchalantly: 

“Nah, I’m not hungry.”

His flat out refusal made a disapproving hum escape Nanu and the man straightened his back, waiting a moment to be acknowledged. It had no effect whatsoever. Not until he tactically stepped in front of the television, completely blocking the view. With annoyed groan, Guzma finally lifted his gaze to eye Nanu angrily. Basking in his negative yet undivided attention, the kahuna pushed: 

“You won’t get better if you skip your meals. Now, take the spoon and start munching.” 

“My stomach hurts. I don’t wanna eat.” Came a sullen response.

Considering the kid, Nanu wasn’t sure if he believed him or not. He didn’t look any worse than before, but if he really wasn't feeling well, Nanu couldn't argue with that. Still, his aloof way of voicing this and the utter lack of gratitude towards his efforts only served to annoy him. 

“I see. Well, I also have other work to do than serve you, so don't expect any more favors from me. I told you not to go outside, it’s your own fault you got sick.” He grunted rather coldly. He wasn't going to force the kid to eat, so he simply left the plate rest there. 

“Like I care!” Came the standard, angry retort. Guzma's nose was getting stuffy, and to empathize this, he sniffed loudly before digging himself deeper under his blankets. 

It marked the end of their conversation. Feeling less than triumphant after telling him off, Nanu finally stepped away from the screen and silently left the room. It would be for the best if they both cooled down.

After their little quarrel, he didn't feel like he could concentrate on reading anymore. In attempt to pass the time, he started looking for mundane tasks he hadn't had time to properly take care of. It meant mostly cleaning.  
He soon discovered the long, muddy trails they had brought inside after their little misadventure. Fetching a mop was the only cure for that and after cleaning the floors, Nanu washed the dishes and did the minimal amount of laundry they had. He even took care of that nasty frizz one of his Meowths had on its neck and ended up grooming 3 cats in total.

When he run out of Meowths to pester, he aimed his efforts towards the visiting creatures. Guzma kept his pokéballs tucked in his hoodie pocket, and Nanu had deposited them earlier on the kitchen counter in order to wash the muddy jacket. Now he claimed the honor of letting the bugs out so he could feed them. When Guzma first moved in, they had agreed to keep their teams separated during their meals to avoid quarreling, resulting that the critters enjoyed their food in his bathroom. Pinsir and Masquerain looked surprised to see the kahuna when he released them, but ate nevertheless enthusiastically the pellets offered to them in a deep bowl.

Between his chores Nanu kept stealing quick glances of the heap that was lying on the couch. As the hours ticked by, Guzma somehow seemed to move even less than before while his coughs grew more persistent. Feeling a slight crack in his earlier resolve, Nanu wondered if he had judged his condition too quickly.

Just when he was about to go check on him, a crisp chime rang through his apartment. The old landline he had in his office was ringing loudly, demanding his attention. Changing his plan of action, Nanu headed towards the racket, if only to silence the darn machine. By the time he reached the phone, he was already feeling a little suspicious of who it could be. There were not many people who even had his number. Maybe it was a tad exaggerated, but he grunted nevertheless gruffly:

“Who is it?” 

“Ah, Nanu! I’m glad you picked up!” His mind was put to ease when the jolly sound of the Melemele's kahuna reached his ear. 

“Evening, Hala.” Lowering himself down on his chair, Nanu took comfortable position. This might take a while. 

“I just wanted to check on you. If the storm you’re suffering is anything like here on Melemele, it’s no laughing matter. “ The mindful tone vanished for a moment: “Especially since you live alone.” He finished softly.

“The storm is bad.” Nanu agreed with a deep hum, before adding: “I do appreciate the sentiment, but you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll have you know there’s a totality of 8 Meowths here to assist me if anything happens. “

While Hala granted him a polite chuckle, Nanu grabbed a pen and started doodling on an empty piece of paper next to his hand. After receiving his verbal confirmation of being A-Okay, Hala’s voice turned serious. 

“I’m glad to hear you say so. Now that we’re exchanging pleasantries, I must inquire whether you have considered making the trip we talked about last time?”

Nanu had already predicted this topic would come up. He didn’t answer immediately, too busy in his attempt on drawing a perfectly round head for the Persian he was scribbling.

”I have. Actually, I already visited the ruins.” He agreed eventually. 

“Ho, is that so? I must say I’m pleased to hear you followed my advice!” 

Adding whiskers to his masterpiece, Nanu wanted to comment it had been more of a friendly threat than anything else. Instead, he muttered ominously: “I wouldn't be so jolly about it, if I were you.”

This caused a short pause on the other end, then: “What do you mean?” 

Realizing what he had started, Nanu swallowed dryly. His chance to tell his colleague what happened in the Ruins of Abundance had arrived.  
Now that the opportunity was at his fingertips, the officer casted a quick glance towards the papers that were haphazardly scattered over his desk. Opening up about this matter would mean breaking his promise to Guzma, but… The idea of adding more resources to his already scarce selection of leads was tempting. From day one, he had wanted to inform Hala and ask for his expertise on this matter.

Yet, there was a rare twist of hesitation in his gut. He wasn't exactly a sentimental man and was proud of his ability to rely on reason, but...

“Nanu?” Hala brought him back to reality by uttering his name. By now, his voice was sharp with growing suspicion. 

Weighing his options for a short second longer, Nanu took a deep breath, before releasing it in one, frustrated huff. 

“It's nothing. You know how I feel about this superstitious humbug. It's like a big scam, Tapu Bulu doesn't even show up, yet I find myself missing one bottle of sake. Very good sake, mind you.”

There was another pause, before Hala broke into a hearty laugh once more. “It's good to honor old traditions. You're a kahuna, it’s your responsibility to show an example for the people of your island, after all.”

Nanu just made a face. Talking with Hala was always like this; at some point he felt like he was being lectured, no matter what topic they were on. 

Once he made up his mind about keeping Guzma’s secret, their conversation steered back to lighter topics. While Nanu usually didn’t like talking on the phone, he found today was different. It didn’t really matter what the other man was saying, just listening his happy conversing was making Nanu feel calmer about things in general.  
He didn’t like to admit it, but he was stressed out by the fact Guzma was bedridden. And the way he had snapped at the kid earlier had been uncalled for. Whether or not he appreciated his attempts on cooking didn’t really matter, it was just…easier to be angry than worried.

When it was clear Nanu wasn’t going to cut their call, Hala ended up being the one to excuse himself. But before they bid their farewells, he tried to question him one last time:

“Something you said earlier caught my attention. I don't want to pry, but you know you can trust me with confidential matters. In case there's something you're not telling me.”

For a man who had such a jovial view on life, Hala could be astoundingly observant. Not that it mattered, Nanu knew his way around him well by now.

“Well, if you insist to know, I have this really bad rash in my behin...” He started casually, only to be cut off by a sudden harrumph from the other end.

“Never mind, I'll talk to you later. Take care of yourself.” Hala shut the phone a little too fast for Nanu not to smirk.

After the line went dead, he clicked his tongue wistfully.  
No matter how much he wanted to believe it wasn't wise to keep this from Hala, he didn't exactly regret his choice either. He didn't understand Guzma's reasons, the kid never gave him any. But apparently his own intuition on it was strong enough he was willing to take his side, no questions asked.

Their phone call had been a long one and the clock was already nearing eight, but Nanu got a sudden craving for coffee. Everybody had their own version of comfort food and he drained his life force from a cup of black roast, occasionally drank too late.  
Telling himself it was good for a sore throat, he also started preparing a cup of tea for Guzma. With a small hint of guilt in his actions, he even sweetened the deal by adding honey in the mix. Imported stuff, straight from Sinnoh. There was just something in genuine Combee honey that couldn’t be competed with. 

While the coffee was still pouring, Nanu went to deliver his little bribe to the patient, only to find a pile of cats where Guzma should’ve been. The TV was still on, making a huge racket, but the kid wasn’t watching it. By now, Guzma had completely vanished from the view and only a small tuft of black hair peeked under the blanket.  
His Meowths were taking advantage of the given situation and now there were no less than 7 of them stacked on their helpless victim. Shooing the invading felines away, Nanu cleared a spot for himself before sitting down on the foot end. If Guzma noticed his presence, he didn’t show.

He put the mug down next to the untouched plate of now cold soup, before clearing his throat.

“I brought you some tea. Is there anything else you'd like?” 

He was thinking of food or small treats. It really bothered him that the kid had barely eaten anything since yesterday. Patiently waiting for any signs of life, it took a moment before he got an answer. First some light rustling ensued, and then, emerging from his cave of blankets, tired eyes peeked at him. Guzma seemed to be only barely awake and with a small trail of clear snot trickling from his nose he was now looking worse than before. 

“I want my Golisopod.” He sniffed quietly.

Blinking in surprise, Nanu wondered if he had heard him correctly. With a feeling that he couldn’t quite place, he just stared at the boy. What made this request so unnerving was the fact Guzma knew his Golisopod was on the other side of the island. Yet, the small glimmer in his eyes told the kahuna that his plea was for real.  
This raw honesty forced him into action. Turning around, not sure what he was even looking for, Nanu searched for something that could help. He got an idea when a sight of purple antennas caught his eye. The Wimpod doll that Plumeria had bought was sitting in his line of sight, staring back at him with its sad little eyes. Guzma had abandoned it on Nanu’s work desk, where it now cowered.Walking over and quickly snatching the soft toy, he went back to the kid and lowered it on his chest. Guzma just stared at the pokédoll that was placed on his person like he was wondering if it really was there.

With a softer voice, the kahuna explained: “Your Golisopod is doing a good deed and helping Plumeria, remember? It can’t come to you right now, but meanwhile, this little fella will keep you company. Okay?” 

Waiting for his reaction, Nanu honestly expected him to swat the plushie away. But after a while, Guzma lifted his hand, giving its back a slow stroke. Setting into an uneven rhythm, he started petting the stuffed bug with lax movements. 

This tender gesture was so unlike him, Nanu felt a sad tug at the corner of his lips. The kid always kept an air of self-respect about him, trying his best to appear tough no matter what the situation was. To act this way, he was really sick, wasn’t he? 

“I’ll bring you something to sneeze on, okay?”

Unable to offer any more comfort, the kahuna went back to the kitchen. A smell of freshly brewed coffee lingered in the air, but he didn’t feel like having a cup anymore. Instead, while searching his cupboards for a packet of tissues, his thoughts circled around the situation at hand. If Guzma was as sick as he seemed, maybe he should phone the emergency line and have a doctor see him?

It took only a quick glance through the window for him to abandon the idea. In a weather like this, there was no way anyone would come by unless it was a real emergency. Even if the kid had gotten slightly worse, their situation wasn’t bad enough to endanger anyone else. 

He finally found what he was looking for. All he could do now was to make sure Guzma swallowed the last of his Aspirin before they went to sleep and hope for the best.

\--xx--

He had a hard time falling asleep that night. Tossing and turning in his bed, it wasn't until the wee hours of the morning before Nanu finally fell asleep. With his sleeping pattern thrown to the gutter, the clock was already nearing afternoon when he was snapped awake by what sounded remotely like a Meowth violently coughing a hairball out of its throat. It took his sleepy brain a moment to realize the ungodly sound came from Guzma. 

Cursing, he got up so fast he almost tripped over his own legs while trying to pull his pants on. 

The first impression he got as he entered the living room was concerning. Guzma was sitting up on the couch, his face twisted in a pained scowl as he gagged. By the sound of it, something wet and hardy had started gathering in his lungs, unwilling to come out.  
Moving next to him, Nanu hurried to give his back a set of solid pats. It took Guzma close to a minute before he was able to will his coughs to calm down. After struggling like that, he was visibly shaken and completely exhausted. Just listening his breathing rasp made Nanu's gut twist in uncomfortable manner and he asked: 

“Do you want me to bring you water?”

He got up after receiving a small nod, but when he came back with the glass, Guzma had fallen asleep again.  
Coming next to his bedside, he watched the boy’s chest rise unevenly in his slumber. Guzma's cheeks were glowing in an unhealthy shade of red, which made Nanu lean down and try his temperature. As soon as he touched his face, the kahuna almost spilled the water on the floor. He didn't need a thermometer to determine that this was too much fever, the kid was literally burning up. 

The medicine he had given him last night had had no effect.

A deep sense of defeat creeping to his core, Nanu stared blankly out of his window. Even as it was a day time, the world outside seemed like nothing more than a void of darkness with wind and endless rain.  
Biting down on his finger, Nanu screwed his eyes shut, mentally browsing through his options. He couldn’t move Guzma in that condition and it was very unlikely anyone would come by, even if he called. On top of that, he was completely out of medicine. How was he going to fix this?

There was an answer. One that had resided in the back of his mind for days now, ready to surface.

Chansey Egg Powder. 

Shaking his head, he knew it was a ridiculous thought. In order to get his hands on something that special, he’d have to go to a pharmacy. Tapu Village didn't even have a regular store, meaning he would have to get as far as to Malie City. Which in this storm, he repeated to himself, was a ridiculous idea. 

He stood there for a while longer, thinking hard.

...And even if he somehow got there, it was still a gamble. All the stores were closed by now, likely people been evacuated, but… Casting a wary look on the kid, he was breathing heavily in his sleep.

What other choice did he have? 

Before he could come to his senses, the kahuna quietly put the glass down, walked to his bedroom and let out a long string of curses. After that, he felt empowered enough to actually dig out his backpack and started to pull a jacket on. Once he had geared up for his trip, Nanu dug out his favorite ultra ball and soon Persian uncurled itself on the floor. Instead of their usual greetings, he just nodded towards the couch. 

“Watch after him while I’m gone, okay girl?”

His pokémon seemed to understand the situation just fine. With great care, Persian climbed on the couch and gracefully laid down. Burying its round head next to Guzma’s, it started purring deep, soothing sounds. The kid shifted lightly in his sleep, his hand sneaking around the pokémon and taking hold of its fur.

Feeling it was safe to leave Guzma behind, Nanu unlocked the door and quickly stepped outside.

Just like before, as soon as he revealed himself to the outside world, the wind attacked him like a hungry predator. When it failed to push him over, it repaid Nanu's resistance by whipping his hood down.  
His short hair blowing wildly in the wind, Nanu got a small taste of what he was getting at. It was the second time he was going to defy the storm and while it had been crazy to try and cross the ocean with a Lapras, flying in a weather like this? You'd have to be either truly brave or completely out of your mind. 

Feeling he was more of the latter, Nanu scoffed; if someone had told him two weeks ago that he would be riding the Charizard Glide in a goddamn hurricane in order to save Guzma, he would’ve laughed. Hard. Yet, here he was. 

“I’m going to die out here, aren’t I?” He asked from no one, but the howling wind answered him anyway. 

“Right.”

Pulling his hood back up, Nanu dug out his trusty Ride Pager. Gaze fixed in the horizon, the kahuna stared in the darkness, every now and then pressing the small device that might be their only saving grace. He must’ve waited there at least 20 minutes when he saw it. First he thought he was imagining it, when a small flicker of light flashed in the distance. But as it got closer and closer, Nanu could’ve laughed out of relief. Slowly but surely, a Charizard flew towards his Station. It had answered his call.

Landing with a heavy thump, the pokémon splashed water and mud everywhere. As it stumbled to find a drier spot, Nanu offered it an apologetic grimace. He couldn’t even begin to guess how being out in this rain would feel to a fire type. 

The Charizard gave him a deep roar, as if asking why it had been summoned.

”I’m sorry you had to come here at a time like this. But I really need your help.”

Wanting to show it what he meant, Nanu went to the house and motioned the pokémon to follow him. As soon as the kahuna managed to pry the door open, the Charizard craned its long neck to peer inside. From their angle it was hard to see in the living room, but the constant and rather pitiful coughing was convincing enough. 

Giving the beast a grave glance, Nanu explained: ”The kid has a high fever and I can’t get him to a doctor. Has hard time breathing, too. He needs to get some medicine in himself, preferably sooner than later.” It was concerning to admit he didn't even know what later would mean.

As he spoke, the lizard was staring intently at the small heap on the couch, a small growl escaping its throat. 

”I know it’s a lot to ask, but will you fly me to Malie City? I need to get to the pharmacy.”

The pokémon kept gazing inside a while longer, then, it simply turned around and walked away. Nanu could feel his heart sinking when it flapped its wings open with a mighty sweep, momentarily cutting the downpour near its body. But instead of taking off, it suddenly lowered itself closer to the ground, laying still. It was waiting for the kahuna to climb on the seat. 

Not wasting a moment, Nanu hurried to mount the creature. After he was seated, he leaned to give it a grateful pat.

“I owe you a big favor, my friend.”

\--xx- - 

Nanu wasn’t afraid of the heights, he actually rather enjoyed hitching a ride from the Charizard on a nice, sunny day. But flying in a storm like this? It wasn’t awful, by no means. It was pure torture.

Screwing his eyes shut as he accidentally looked down, Nanu squeezed the handlebars on his riders seat so hard he could feel his knuckles cracking. The seat was slippery from the rain that mercilessly pelted him and the Charizard, making it impossible to sit in a same position for more than two seconds.  
While his body kept swaying from left to right, he tried his best to concentrate on surviving. After all, if he somehow didn’t slip and fall to his death, there were still other dangers lurking. He was painfully aware that his ride was slowly but surely being forced closer and closer to the ocean by the raging wind that was trying to overpower them. If they ended up being blown into the wide sea, that would be the end of it.

But no matter how dangerous the journey was, Nanu had started to realize how lucky it was that the pokémon had come to him at all. There was no way it had switched islands in this weather, no. It had already been on Ula'ula, taking cover somewhere when it got his call.

Whether it was a blessing from Tapu’s or sheer stroke of luck, against all the odds they made it. After what felt like an eternity, the familiar streets of Malie City appeared from behind a mountain and the Charizard started landing. As the lizards heavy body hit the ground, their high speed caused it to slide across the wet stone tiles for a few extra feet and they barely avoided running into a stone wall.

Once it was sure the Charizard was standing steadily on its feet, Nanu let his gaze wander the dead streets. By the looks of it, he had been right; the whole place was so eerily quiet it was as if he had entered a ghost town. Darkness seemed to creep in every corner and small nook, making its nests everywhere and claiming the place as its own. But despite the gloom, he took some comfort from the familiarity of this place, he knew exactly where he was. 

The Charizard let out what sounded almost like a whine, bringing Nanu back to reality.  
Sliding down from its back, the kahuna gave it a fast check to see how it was fairing in the weather. To his relief, the fire on its tail still burned like a torch in the darkness. This was one mighty strong beast.

“Let's go to find a shelter, no?” Offering its side a kind pat, Nanu suggested.

He successfully “parked” the Charizard Glide when he found an empty garage someone had left open. It wasn't a perfect solution to borrow someones property like this, but at least the place was wide enough to protect the pokémon from the rain. The Charizard clearly appreciated this and as soon as they reached the cover, it started shaking any extra water away from its scaly skin. 

While the pokémon dried itself, Nanu found two Oran berries from his bag and put them on the floor for taking. After that, he turned to leave. 

“I won’t take long. Stay here and gather your strength while I’m gone.” He told the pokémon before breaking into running. 

The pharmacy was only two blocks away and as he approached the store he first peered inside through the huge glass window, just out of politeness. Of course nobody was there, but if he had to use a rock to let himself in, he could always say he had tried alternative methods first.  
Proceeding to rap his knuckles on the door for a good measure, the kahuna grabbed the door handle. His brows shot up in genuine surprise when it actually opened with a soft click, allowing him to simply enter the building. In his haste he failed to see the small marks on the lock, signaling it had been broken earlier.

Once inside, he noticed it wasn't pitch black. Even without the electric lights, the big display window allowed some light to the dark interior, but it wasn't enough for him to operate properly. Clicking his flash light on, Nanu was about to start looking for the medicine, when a loud bang made him stop. 

“Give me a break...” Turning sharply to his left, he searched the source with his spotlight. 

Just when he thought he was hearing things, the noise repeated itself. This time, it resembled light rustling. Getting irritated by his constant stream of bad luck, the kahuna barked with as much authority he could muster: 

“Who is it? Show yourself!” 

He was expecting a wild pokémon attack. You didn't have to be an expert to know that especially ghost types loved a setting like this; looming darkness, leaking ceilings and not a living soul to bother them, the whole town in its current state was like a personal playground for them. But this time Nanu hadn’t forgotten his team. The familiar weight of his pokéballs gave him a sense of security, as the rustling now turned into thumping. Without a doubt, it was coming towards him. His fingers reaching for his pocket, the kahuna prepared himself for a battle.

He was about to release his Sableye when a slender and definitely human shaped form appeared. It was quite a bit shorter than Nanu and became even less intimidating when it stumbled and almost fell over a plastic plant that was placed on the floor. 

“OWWMMMmh!!”

Nanu felt his brow rise in irritation as he stared at the being who now stood in the beam of his flashlight. A Team Skull grunt was hopping on one foot, while his other kicked the air wildly. He had stubbed his toe when he encountered the unlucky decorative element. It was rather… anti-climatic turn out.

When the guy kept squinting at Nanu pleadingly, the kahuna took the hint and lowered his flash light away from the poor kids face. 

”What are you doing here?” Looking him from head to toe, Nanu asked tiredly. 

Maybe it was his age, but in his eyes all the grunts looked the same. Except, this one came with a little dopier face than usual and was hatless. To replace this missing piece of garment, the Skull bandana was wrapped around his forehead, letting wet, slightly over grown locks of hair hung over his face like blue weed. He also had a packet of cough drops between his teeth, as his hands were occupied with three fat-looking grocery bags.

At first, all Nanu got for an answer was unintelligent mumbling, until the kid put one of the bags down and spat the package away from his mouth.

“Hi Uncle! We came here to restock some food. Well, not here, but in the store down the street. Heard they have a good hurricane sale going on, practically got all this shit for free, hehe!” 

While he laughed at his horrible joke, Nanu couldn’t tear his eyes away from the bag he had put down. There was a bunch of Nanab Berries sitting there nicely, which reminded him that they would soon be out of food too…

”There’s more of you here?” He asked, taking a casual step closer to the grunt.

”Nah, just me. The others already left, I came here looking for pastilles. Might get sick after a storm like this ya know? Better prepare!” The kid smiled toothily.

That was all the clarification he needed. Crafty as a Meowth with Thief, he snatched the bag that sat on the floor to himself.

The grunt blinked once, before uttering a wounded: ”Heeeey!”

Holding the grocery bag close to him, Nanu retorted with a blank face: ”What you’re doing here, young man, is stealing. I’m confiscating this as an evidence.” His bluff was so weak even a dummer-than-usual Slowpoke could've called it.

Nevertheless, it seemed to convince the grunt. Brows furrowing in worry, he let out a long whine. 

” Aawwww maaan. Please Uncle, you’re not really gonna arrest me, are you?”

”…No, if you keep your mouth shut. You never saw me here, you understand?”

The grunt stared at him, eyes wide like saucers and furiously nodded his head. To drive his point home, Nanu leaned closer to the delinquent. Pointing a finger between himself and the grunt, the kahuna growled:

”This. Never. Happened!”

”Okay, okay… Yeesh. No need to be mean.” Crossing his arms, the grunt gave up. He didn’t have the guts to openly complain, but he did pout.

Nanu could relate. Here he was, the kahuna of this forsaken island, breaking into drugstores and committing petty crime with team Skull dummies. But necessity knows no law, he supposed…

Remembering what he had come to do there in the first place Nanu shook his head and sauntered past the guy he had pretty much just robbed. He didn't have time for this nonsense. Working as efficiently as he could with the minimal light he had, the kahuna finally started digging through the shelves. After the first row, it came apparent that the task at hand was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He wasn't able to spot the egg powder, but he happened to come across a bottle full of stiff looking liquid that promise to cure a cough. It was the first item that was slipped in his waiting backpack.

As his behavior towards the grunt had been less than polite, Nanu expected him to leave. Thus, he was startled when a wary voice behind him questioned: 

”What’cha looking for?”

The youth was standing a few steps away, trying to peek over his shoulder.

”Chansey Egg Powder.” Hoping that answering would shut him up, Nanu kept browsing through different bottles and packages. 

”Oh, that’s on a third shelf, on your left.”

Silently following his instructions, Nanu was surprised to see the grunt was right. Like promised, on the third shelf sat a neat row of small, brown paper bags. Cartoony, happy looking Chansey smiled on the label, holding out its egg. It was a relief and a time saver, too. At least the kid had some manners and... Wait. Turning around, Nanu gave the grunt a suspicious glance. 

”How did you know where to find these?

The grunt just shrugged. 

”Already went through all the shelves, man. There’s nothing worth stealing, thou.”

Nanu wanted to roll his eyes. He should’ve guessed. Well, he might be trespassing as well, but he wasn’t about to stoop that low. 

After stuffing his bag with enough egg powder to cure a sick Dragonite, he fished out his damp wallet. He had no idea what his “purchases” would cost, so he settled on slamming a generous amount of money on the checkout counter. Might as well pay for the cough drops too, while he was at it. As he put the money down, he almost wanted to point out to the grunt that he hadn’t even robbed the cash machine. As tempting as it was, he managed to keep his mouth shut, but… Really, some criminals they were. Like said, with team Skull around, he was almost as good as retired.

Now that Nanu had everything he needed, he started to exit the building. Just before he stepped outside, he turned to give the kid advice.

”I wouldn’t linger here any longer if I were you. If the forecast is right, the storm is going to pass soon, but it’s not over until it’s over. Better run for a proper shelter. You have one, right?”

”Yeah yeah, we have one hideout nearby. I’ll be fine.” The grunt made a few “menacing “ gestures towards Nanu, but he seemed nevertheless happy the kahuna had asked. 

Mumbling soft tunes, the grunt followed him outside. Trying to ignore the kid who thudded after him like a lost Rockruff, the delinquent actually went so far as to see him off to his ride. Arriving side by side on the empty main street, the Charizard was still covering under the shelter and looking down right miserable with everything. As soon as it saw Nanu approaching, it let out a loud, relieved roar. 

Stopping a good distance away, the grunt stared at the glide that came to greet them. 

“Wooaaah! Are you gonna ride that, Uncle?” He gaped.

“How does it look to you?” The kahuna growled as he struggled to climb on the pokémons back.

“In a storm like this?” 

Once seated firmly on the saddle, Nanu allowed a small spark of pride bloom in his chest at the awe in his voice. Lifting his chin a little, he gave the young man a smug glance. 

“Hmmph, I’m not the island kahuna for nothing, kid.”

With that, the Charizard flapped its wings open. It was also in a hurry to leave and soon the stunned looking grunt was only a small dot in the streets of Malie.

Nanu’s moment of triumph was short lived. As soon as the ride pokémon reached the sky, what could be described as “The Rodeo of Death” started all over again. With the grocery bag tucked against his stomach, it was now even more chaotic to try and stay seated. When a strong gust of wind once again dipped him sideways, he let out a hearty yelp. As a result, a can of beans and few berries fell from the plastic bag, but Nanu couldn't care less. Teeth clenched in concentration, his knees shook involuntarily from trying to prevent himself from falling. 

It was official. He was going to die. 

\--xx--

It could be either that the pokémon was tired or it had learned something from their first flight. Their journey back lasted for a while longer, but this time the Charizard flew with lower altitude, seemingly making sure they stayed further away from the open waters. It helped that the wind was also slowly subsiding, but the rain fell on them as heavy as ever.  
Getting a good overview from the sky, Nanu found what was left of the dirt road leading to his Station was now reduced to a narrow, muddy trail. As the Charizard landed on it, the wet mud splashed everywhere, reaching so high the kahuna got soaked to his knees. Not minding this one bit, he came tumbling down, so relieved to get away from the sky he could’ve kissed the soggy ground.

While Nanu gathered his bearings, his ride silently turned to leave. It was already heading further down the road, making its way towards a proper take off spot when Nanu yelled after it.

”Do you need a shelter from the storm? You can stay with us if you like.” It was the least he could do.

The beast stopped, but apparently his offer was not needed. With one meaningful glance, the Charizard growled softly and took off. Watching those strong wings carry it in the distance, Nanu felt sure it had a good shelter in mind.

He'd have to write an anonymous letter and thank Kiawe for raising such a liable and kind pokémon. 

\--xx--

The sound of key turning in a lock made Persian lift its head in caution, giving whoever might enter a warning hiss. After it saw who the intruder was, its low growls soothed back into purring, greeting its master. It was also doing a fine job on guarding its charge. 

Eager to start preparing his home made remedy, Nanu first changed his wet clothes before making a beeline to the kitchen.  
While he waited for small bubbles to emerge on the milky surface, for every spoonful of Tapu Cocoa Nanu added a smaller portion of the egg powder. Mixing the ingredients carefully until the milk boiled, he soon had a mugful of gooey cocoa. Out of curiosity, he tasted his creation with a spoon; it was rather thick but otherwise edible.

When it was time to deliver the mug, he found Guzma exactly the way he left him, hugging Persian and completely out cold. His breathing wasn't any better and even though he had three blankets on, the kid was was shivering like he was cold. 

Trying to recreate his mothers recipe had brought a faint memory back to him, and Nanu left the cocoa to cool on the table. When he came back, he had a bowl of cold water in his hands. Dipping a small cloth in the water and getting it soaked, Nanu started gently wiping Guzma’s face. The kid was still burning up, he could feel his temperature even through the thick fabric. As Nanu worked in silence, Persian backed away to give him more space. On his third round across his face, the kid finally woke up. With a startled jolt, he suddenly snapped his eyes open. Gaze clouded with fever, Guzma aimed the older man a confused look.

“It’s just me.” Nanu told him quietly.

Getting the rag moist one last time, he folded it neatly before placing it on Guzma’s forehead. The kid didn’t even seem to notice this, as he kept searching Nanu's face. Small frown forming on his forehead, he was about to say something when a sudden coughing fit cut his words. Using the moment to his advantage, Nanu helped him to sit up. Persian also offered its aid, letting the kid cling onto its body for support while Nanu fixed the pillows for him. Once Guzma was propped up properly, Nanu offered him the mug of cocoa.

“Here, drink this.”

With shaking hands, Guzma accepted the mug. After taking a first sip, he wrinkled his nose.

“This tastes funny.” He said with broken voice.

“It’s an old family recipe that will make you feel better. Now, drink up.” 

For once doing as he was told, Guzma took another, deeper gulp. Making sure he drank everything, Nanu found some humor in this. Even in his feverish stupor, Guzma was still picky about his Tapu Cocoa.

As soon as the task was completed, the kid fell asleep again. Allowing exhaustion to finally take over, Nanu also hauled himself on the empty spot that was still available on the couch. He didn't believe in beds at that moment, he simply wanted to rest there until he felt like a human being again.  
Once he found a good position and settled down, Persian made its move. A small huff escaped him when his feline companion stretched its long body over his stomach, laying over him and Guzma alike. It was cramped, too hot and his pokémon definitely wasn't a light little kitten anymore, but Nanu was too tired to even complain.

And so, the kahuna of Ula'ula Island, the tiny boss of infamous Team Skull and one over-sized feline all fell into a slumber. While the couch they shared was a little too small for comfort, soft, soothing purrs soon filled the air and ensured there were no dreams to bother them that night. 

\--xx--

Nanu first stirred and then proceeded to slowly wake up when a small ray of light hit his eyes. Feeling stiff all over, his back cracked painfully as he forced himself to sit up.  
He didn't even have to see his surroundings to know where he had spent the entire night. When you got to his age, you could tell just by the way your body complained whether or not you'd slept in a bed. On a bright side, his Persian had had enough of the close proximity and sauntered off somewhere. Everything still hurt, more or less.

“...I’m too old for this…” Moaning softly, Nanu rubbed his face in his hands. He needed coffee. Black coffee. And fast. 

Just when he was about to get up and make this become reality, he was washed over by a strong feeling of being watched. Still leaning against his pillows ,Guzma was also awake. Silently staring at him, his eyes roamed over the kahuna in a way that was definitely considering him. It was a mysterious look, one Nanu wasn’t sure of what it meant. Nevertheless, he was happy to see his eyes looked sharper than before.

“Morning.” Nanu told him hoarsely.

Guzma gave him a small nod of acknowledgement, before quickly turning his head away. If the kahuna hadn't known better, he would’ve said he looked almost embarrassed. Faintly amused by this, he was about to get up again when Guzma suddenly said:

“It's over.”

Nanu didn't quite understand what he meant at first. Puzzled, he turned to see where Guzma was looking and found it was true. Actually, it was even better than that. The storm was finally over and a stream of sunlight poured in the room between the curtains. Having clear skies was a rare occurrence in Po Town, but it happened every once in a while. These moments were truly something to be cherished. 

“Well, would you look at that.”

They shared a long, silent moment, admiring the sliver of blue sky that was showing between the white clouds.

“Nanu?”

Still looking outside, the kahuna hummed. 

“I’m hungry.”

It was enough to get his attention. “Yeah? Anything you’d like? We don’t have a great variety of things left, but I can always try to improvise.” 

After some pondering, they agreed on having pancakes and the morning was off to a good start. While Nanu busied himself with mixing the pancake batter, Guzma suddenly came to the kitchen. Surprised to see him up,the kahuna gave him a glance over his shoulder. Still looking pale and a little wobbly on his feet, the kid went to rummage through the cupboard. 

”Shouldn’t you be lying? I’ll bring you the breakfast to bed.” 

”Mmmbeen lying too much. Need to move around.” The kid mumbled while picking himself a black coffee mug. 

As Guzma came to stand next to him to use the tap, Nanu slipped his hand on his forehead. He was still warm, but it was nothing compared to earlier. He would be okay. Adding an extra spoonful of egg powder in the mix, Nanu couldn’t help but smile lightly. His mother had been a genius. Not really thinking about it, he let his hand linger for a while, absently ruffing the kids hair.

”I’m not one of your Meowths.” Came tired, slightly annoyed murmur, but Guzma didn’t move away either. 

It made the kahuna huff, but it was in a good humor. “Okay, back in the bed. You'll get to eat these soon enough.“ 

He could almost hear the eye roll, before Guzma turned to leave. Just when he was about to vanish from the view he granted Nanu a small quip.

“I thought you didn't do favors for me anymore.” The mischief in his voice was nothing but subtle.

Nanu simply made a small shooing gesture. Yes, he was definitely getting better. 

\--xx--

Three days went by in a blink of an eye and during that time, pancakes became a habit. Now that the kid was eating again, he started requesting them for almost every meal. What made things even worse, Nanu found himself relenting more often than not.

It was an early afternoon and they were both sharing the couch, watching TV. It was also a new “ritual”, which they both seemed to enjoy. At least most of the time. Today was Guzma’s turn to decide what to watch and to Nanu’s dismay, he had ruled over cartoons instead of any actual series.  
As Nanu chomped down on yet another portion of the sweet treat, he wanted to cringe. After this whole “sick” ordeal was over and done with, he never wanted to see a pancake in his life. He also didn’t understand a thing about the show that was on. Emerging from the midst of explosion, a brightly colored Pyroar flew across the screen, shooting beams of laser from its eyes. For some reason, it was made of metal and it was in the space. Dear Archeus, what were they showing the kids these days…

He was about to try and hint that there might be a bug pokémon documentary showing on the nature channel, but as he opened his mouth, all his word turned into one, big inhale. His nostrils itched fiercely for a second before the kahuna sneezed so hard he almost spilled his meal on his lap.

While Nanu hurried to grab himself a tissue, Guzma gave him a sideway glance and smirked. 

“Bless you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, let me wish you all a late Happy New Year 2018! :D
> 
> Also, thank you for reading chapter 5! Now that the cliff hanger-cat is out of the bag, yeah, it's a sickfic. Ironically, while writing this I got a bad flu myself~
> 
> With Guzma sick, I was hoping to write a chapter that had, uh, kind interaction between the two of them. Up to this point, they've been arguing quite a lot. It turned out to be a bit harder than I expected, I guess my major concern was making things seem too sweet. It was a fun challenge and I hope you like how this turned out. C:
> 
> At leats Nanu doesn't coddle, not anything or anyone. Not for a moment.  
> ...  
> ….. yup. 
> 
> Next time, despite the small hints, the chapter won't be about Nanu getting sick, I promise. 
> 
> Comments are greatly appreciated, as always. <3


	6. Something wrong with me

Upon arrival, the day was gray and accompanied with a light drizzle. Nanu was up early, more or less against his will. Hands squeezed around an old wooden broom, with lax movements he guided a pile of soggy leaves into one big heap. Now that the storm was over, it was time to deal with the chaos it had caused. 

Taking a deep breath, he could smell the crisp chill in the air. While the brief blessing of sunshine had been nice, he felt more at home in the permanent rain, the feeling of fat droplets of water on his back soothing him. 

As he diligently kept sweeping the trash away from his front yard, the kahuna was annoyed of the workload the storm had caused; it would take him all week to get everything tidied up.  
Giving a sideway glance up, he knew his biggest challenge wasn’t scattered over the ground either. On top of his Station rested a fine cluster of loose tree branches that wind had kindly delivered there. Even the idea of asking was making him feel old, but he knew he would have to request Guzma’s help if he wanted to clean the place for good.

Speaking of the devil, he was still soundly snoozing inside. The kid was always late to rise, and if left alone, he could easily sleep way past the noon before gruffly rolling out of the bed. When he first appeared on his couch, Nanu had tried to wake him up daily, but nowadays he just let him be. Getting his beauty doze at least assured he didn't growl and grouch through his waking hours. 

The kahuna was so lost in his thoughts he was completely obvious of the small form approaching his Station from the distance. Getting closer with a steady pace, it wasn't until that certain someone cleared their throat that Nanu turned his head in question. 

Behind his back was revealed a rather pleasant surprise. Acerola stood a few steps away from him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Taking in the sight of the older man, her brow proceeded to form a straight line.  
While she clearly wasn’t in a good mood, the sheer surprise of seeing her made Nanu obvious of her gloom and the kahuna smiled at the girl. But before he could get a word out, Acerola stated coldly: 

“Hello Uncle. Nice to see you up and enjoying the morning, all fine and dandy.”

The kahuna opened his mouth, then shut it again. Nanu blinked. While he tried to process what he was being accused of, the girl gave him no mercy. Cheeks puffing in a sign of annoyance, she huffed in frustration:

“I’ve been waiting for Sooty for days! After the storm, there was no note from you. I was worried sick!”

As she lectured him, the realization started to sink in. With a small wince, he knew she was right. Normally he sent her a short letter in every two months or so, but after something unpredicted happened, he always scribbled a note to let her know he was okay. 

“Forgive me, Nanab berry. I’ve been so busy I completely forgot.” Hand sneaking to rub his neck, Nanu offered a sheepish apology.

Her eyes squinted in suspicion and she regarded him for a while. But the longer she glared, more her strict demeanor started to crumble. Lips twitching almost involuntarily, it was as if frowning was making her laugh. 

“Aww, I can’t stay mad at you. You’re such a goof, Uncle.” Finally giving in, she instead latched on his hip and hugged him tight.

Not sure if he was feeling “goofy”, Nanu was still happy that he had been forgiven. The girl always found such… Unique angles to view him. Giving her a fond pat on the head, he waited until she let him go.

“I’m also happy to see you’re okay.” He told her with a rare smile.

“Yup, fit as a Feebas!” As if to prove her statement, she made a twirl to present herself, her long ragged dress gracefully following the motion. 

Once done, she raised her brow in question. “So, exactly what have you been up to?” 

Before Nanu could even start, the answer walked out of the door. Looking like he was barely awake, Guzma slouched out of the house. Rubbing his eyes, he gave a big yawn as he stepped squarely in the middle of the two.

The trio stood there in a startled silence. Well, startled at least on Nanu’s part, Acerola just tilted her head curiously, giving Guzma a long, intense look. Flinching in surprise, Guzma quickly turned his back on her. 

“I… uh. I’m gonna go and stretch my legs.” Throwing a thump towards the hill, he muttered to the general direction of Nanu.

With that, he just stormed away, completely ignoring Acerola’s existence. Not taking the offence from his cold demeanor, a mysterious smile formed on her lips as she studied his receding form until he was completely out of sight.

Before the kahuna could utter any explanation for the strange boy coming out of his house, Acerola dropped the topic by turning her half-smile on him. 

“Do you have any tea left? I'd love to have a cup with you.”

\--xx--

It so happened that Nanu had the said tea, and soon they were both enjoying each other’s company in his small kitchen.

While he busied himself with preparing them snacks, Acerola kept a small conversation going, telling him this and that about the things that had happened to her while they had been apart.  
Nanu answered her dutifully with quiet humms and small yes’s, hoping they would suffice.  
He was listening her with half an ear only, too busy racking his own brain and trying to find an explanation for the odd phenomenon that was Guzma. 

In truth, it bothered him more that the girl still hadn't asked anything. It was nearly abnormal for him to have anyone over, and she knew him well enough to at least point that out. But instead of drilling him with though questions about his guest, she was telling him something about Haunters and… missing socks?

Acerola laughed and Nanu hummed. 

By sweeping the last crumbles of bread in the sink, he reached the point where there was nothing else he could do without making it obvious he was stalling. After all, there were only so many times a person can wipe his counters without making it seem unnatural. 

Accepting his fate, Nanu took his tea with him and sat on the opposite side of his guest. Seemingly his timing couldn’t have been worse either. Having finished her story, for the first time during her stay Acerola fell silent. It was permanent type.  
While nursing his drink in his hand, he tried to act like the stretching silence wasn't bothering him. Or the way the girl was just happily smiling at him, seemingly pleased he had joined her company. 

In the end, the pressure of telling her something pushed him to his limits.

“So, the boy from earlier. He was…” Nanu started, but couldn't finish. He had no qualms in telling a white lie or two when it was convenient, but even the idea of lying to Acerola made his stomach twist in uncomfortable manner. She deserved better than that, always.

“Oh, I know Uncle.” The girl nodded. Reaching for a plate of cookies, she dipped one chocolate chip in her tea.

“You do?” Was the only thing he could think of, while studying her over his own beverage. On the outside, Nanu just nodded slowly. 

“But tell me, how did that happen to Guzma?” While munching her treat, she threw the question in air like she had asked about the weather. 

Nanu felt his jaw snap open. Before the silence could turn uneasy again, Acerola mercifully answered the question he didn’t know how to ask.

“I can sense his aura. “

When the kahuna still kept looking as lost as ever, she tried to explain. 

“They’re like… psychic fingerprints, you can tell people apart from them. Auras have their own color, size and intensity, it’s always different depending on a person. Even if he doesn’t look like himself, I know that’s Guzma.”

Acerola looked thoughtful for a while. “He has a very strong presence.” She added like it somehow settled this matter.

Taking a moment to process this, Nanu was smart enough to not question her. After all, he had known the girl ever since she was a small tyke, and yet she always surprised him with her talents. It was best to take her word for it, rather than trying to understand it.

Seeing no reason to deny anything, Nanu just rested his back against his chair and gave the girl a brief explanation of what had happened.  
Acerola listened his story with keen interest, not once uttering a word to interrupt him. But every now and then, her brows would furrow lightly and then smooth out again. Nanu interpreted it meant she found something interesting in that part. 

Once everything had been laid open, the kahuna sighed tiredly. “ And from that day on, he has been living with me. You wouldn’t happen to know a way to make him turn back to normal, would you?” 

His slim hope she actually would died fast. With a look of genuine concern, Acerola shook her head. 

“Sorry Uncle Nanu.”

“It’s okay, I know you would if you could.”

But the girl didn’t give up. Swirling her spoon in her cup, it made a soft chiming sound. 

“I don’t know for sure, but… the way you described it happening, I think he might’ve been cursed.” Acerola said thoughtfully.

Nanu, who had just taken a sip, was somewhat startled by this sudden revelation. It manifested with him almost choking on his tea. Coughing, he lowered his mug on the table. 

“Does that actually happen?” He asked between his coughs, trying to wheeze the liquid out from the wrong pipe.

“Sure! Many ghost type pokémon exist solely because of being cursed in a way or other. For example, Banettes are originally dolls that got tossed away, and their grief of being abandoned turned them alive. Occurrences like this fit in the description of curses, even if Guzma didn’t actually turn into anything inhuman.” 

While listening the girl, Nanu’s brow furrowed, his gaze fixed on the surface of his tea.  
A curse? He didn’t say it, but the kahuna was skeptical. While ghost type pokémon were certainly real, Nanu couldn’t quite bring himself to swallow that right away.  
More importantly, even if Acerola was right, they still had to figure out how to deal with that. If she didn't know what to do to help, that meant one thing; more research. But it was fine, this was actually something he had been hoping to ask from the girl for a while now.

“You’re more knowledgeable in these matters than I am, so enlighten me. Couple years ago, Aether House donated plenty of your father's books to Malie Library, no? Do you remember any particular piece of literature from his study that might help us out?”

Acerola grimaced in apologetic manner. 

“That's a tough one. I've read plenty of dad’s books, but I'm afraid I don't remember any of them containing information about anything like this...”

Nanu hummed thoughtfully. 

“But I could look into it! I mean, I can't say it's not there if I can't remember.”

“That’s a very kind offer, but you don’t need to burden yourself with something that.”

The girl just shook her head happily. 

“Nu-uh, it’s not a big deal. I love reading and besides, I think it’s sweet you’re trying to help Guzma, even if he’s not a very nice person. You’re helping that Skull ruffian, so I want to help you Uncle!”

Nanu was going to disagree with her, but a hard bang from the hallway interrupted his attempt on curbing the girl. The front door was rather kicked than pushed open, and the ruffian in question came stomping inside. This wasn’t the first time the kid used his feet to get through the doors, and Nanu was getting tired of telling him off for that.

“Oi, old man! I needa...” But his roar for a demand died the second Guzma spotted Acerola sitting in the kitchen with him. Taking a step towards the coat rack, he tried to hide from the view. 

The girl snickered and Nanu rolled his eyes. Eyeing Guzma, who lingered awkwardly in the doorway and tried to blend in with the surroundings, the kahuna just motioned him to join them. 

“You can come here, she already knows.”

It wasn’t enough to assure him. When Guzma didn’t budge and kept staring at the girl suspiciously, she called out: 

“We're having tea and snacks!” To empathize her point, she popped one more cookie in her mouth.

That did the trick. 

Never one to say no to a snack, especially to sweet ones, Guzma sauntered in the kitchen. Quickly snatching two cookies for himself, his eyes never left the girl as he lowered himself to sit down next to Nanu. Ungracefully stuffing both of them in his mouth, he leaned to whisper the kahuna. 

“I thought we agreed nobody was to know about this!” Hissing angrily between his teeth, he was spraying crumbles on the table.

Nanu just scoffed in his tea for both his theatrics and the fact he had no apparent table manners. “You only whined about me telling Hala, we never actually agreed on anything. But I didn't tell her, she figured it out herself.”

Guzma wasn’t convinced. “Yeah right! Like anyone could even...”

“I did. You have a presence that's hard to miss.“

Nanu was pretty sure that Guzma’s expression mirrored his own when Acerola first time spilled her beans. One brow rising towards the ceiling, his mouth snapped slowly open. You could almost hear the gears turning in his head as he processed her words.

“I have a whatnow?” Speaking slowly, it was like Guzma couldn't decide whether he was being ridiculed or not.

Acerola just smiled, quickly guiding the conversation to different direction. 

“A presence that’s hard to miss. And it’s good you’re here now, because we were just talking about you! Or rather, how I could help with your case.” She was stealthily working her way to be included in this.

Holding back his groan, Nanu didn’t have time to disagree with her this time either, as Guzma quickly turned back to him and whined.

“ No way! How is she going to be of any help?” Making a face, he was looking more than unimpressed.

“I already have a theory!”

They both stopped, turning to her in question. With a proud grin, she pulled out an ultra ball from one of the hidden pockets her dress had, and dropped it on the table. It rolled gently across the wooden surface, before the small button flashed in red and her Banette was released. A wicked grin plastered on its face, the creature stood up and stretched its stumpy limbs. 

“This little darling is my very own Banette. You two have a lot in common, Guzma, because you see its…” She started, but stopped when she realized Nanu was motioning to her. 

With a curt wave of his hand, the kahuna silenced the girl before she could even start. He wasn’t exactly dismissing her theory, but first Nanu wanted to get some actual evidence to support it. Until they got some solid proof, there was no reason to alarm Guzma with tales of being cursed and whatnot.  
It wasn’t only for the kids sake either, Nanu wasn’t sure how long HE would last if the boy started pestering him with paranormal mumbo jumbo.

Guzma was obvious of the gesturing game that was going on across the table, too busy gawking at the small ghost type that stood sturdily in front of him. Tilting his head curiously, he lifted his hand to grab the small zipper the pokémon had as its mouth. 

“How's this thing have anything to do with me? I'm not a dummy.”

Lucky for him, Nanu noticed what he was doing. With a swift move, the kahuna snatched Guzma’s hand before the kid could actually pull the zipper open and release whatever sinister resided inside that doll-creature. 

“Clearly.”

“...HEY!”

Before they could work themselves into an argument, Acerola’s bright laughter broke the mood. Hiding her giggles behind her hand, her voice was warm with mirth. 

“ I can see why you like having him around Uncle. He's way more interesting than I thought!”

\--xx--

Now that Guzma was accustomed on the idea of somebody else knowing about his situation, it didn’t seem to be such a big deal after all. More surprisingly yet, he showed some odd fascination towards the young ghost type user. 

It was a welcomed thing, to see those two getting along, but having two kids in the house was also pushing Nanu to his social limits.  
With an excuse of needing to get some research done, he shooed them into the living room, while the kahuna shut himself in his office. Once safely inside his sanctuary, Nanu let out a relieved breath, basking in the calm atmosphere.

It still didn’t stop him from eaves dropping on their conversation. 

Even now, their voices carried through his door and the air was filled with bubbly chatter. It was mostly one-sided, with Acerola telling Guzma about pokémon related legends. While her company was clearly trying to play it cool, more often than not Guzma ended up bombing her with follow up questions. Currently they were on a topic of mysterious occurrences.

“Did you know that the first Kadabra was originally a human boy, who turned into a pokémon in his sleep? You were lucky you only got younger.”

Scrunching his nose in a mix of disgust and disbelief, Guzma crossed his arms.

“No way something like that actually happened!”

Her playful giggles made whatever protest stop from emerging from the boy. Giving her a mild stare, he ended up huffing quietly: 

“Whatever, weirdo…”

Face screwed in concentration, he seemingly had a thought. “So, you're a trial captain, right?”

When he received a nod, Guzma straighten his back ever so slightly. Giving his lips a quick lick, his eyes moved to the Ghostium Z crystal that Acerola had on her Z-Ring.  
The girl seemed to notice the longing way he kept eyeing the battling ring and lifted it to view. Guzma just nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Can I see it?”

“Uh, sure.” Easing the Z-Ring over her wrist, she slipped it off. 

Accepting the bracelet given to him, Guzma lifted it above his head for examination. Slowly turning it in his hands, he made sure to check every angle of it, before handing it back.

“Are they, uh, personal or something? I mean, if someone had to borrow your Z–Ring, could they use it or is it like “one master” type of thing?” 

Blinking in surprise, Acerola shook her head. “No, I’m sure anyone can use a Z-Ring. They don’t choose you or anything.” 

Guzma just nodded his head, eyes shifting away from her in thought. 

“You’ve never had your own?” 

“Hala must’ve been out of stock around the time I left to have my island trial.” Guzma muttered darkly.

Before the girl could ask anything more, he changed the subject: “Why didya want to specialize in ghost types?” 

Pondering the question for a short while, she just shrugged happily. “They're my favorite pokémon type!” 

“I think they're pretty weak.” With a slightly bored tone, Guzma informed. 

“No, they're not!”

Raising his hands up in fake-defeat, he looked openly amused for managing to poke a reaction out of her. Glaring at the Skull Boss for a second, she then sighed, her frown easing. 

“... Then again, I guess I just grew up with them.”

Aiming her gaze through the window, she went on softly: “My dad loved ghost pokémon. He did train his team for battling, but by heart he was a researcher. He put most of his time and effort into studying them. And old Alolan legends too. He always told me he loved his job because mystery and reality mix together in delightful ways.“

Guzma had the decency to look a little embarrassed for saying something that might’ve offended the girl. But Acerola wasn’t the type to get caught on negative feelings and continued on the topic: 

“How about you. Is your dad also a pokémon trainer?”

Nanu stirred lightly at the question. During his stay, Guzma hadn’t uttered a single word about his family and he had an itch the topic was a taboo. Thus, the kahuna was honestly surprised when the boy actually answered her. 

“Nah... He's your regular blue-collar, works at the power plant. My old man never had any big ambitions towards anything.“ There was a brief pause, then: “Except for golfing, but I guess he's no good at that either.”

Guzma casted a half lidded look on the third member of their party. Masquerain was resting on his lap, and with his finger he gave it a gentle stroke across its folded wings.

“It's cool though. Like, it's great when people have something they devote themselves to. Stuff that actually means something to them.“ Acerola silently followed him tracing the wing patterns of his sleeping pokémon.

“I think so too.” She agreed softly. 

They fell silent again. Deciding this was enough spying for one day, Nanu turned his attention back to the task at hand. Turning a page, he continued his reading.

\--xx--

Acerola stayed with them until the evening. As the sun was starting to sink below the horizon, they went to see her off to the route 16. Guzma said he had to visit a PokéCenter and claimed he was only tagging along to get it out of the way. Still, he was listening Acerola intently as she kept lively conversing to him all the way to the beach. 

After their talk earlier, Guzma didn’t seem to be in a mood to answering much, humming and grunting quietly. But when the girl was floating away from the shore with the Sharpedo Jet, he finally yelled after her:

“Hey, Spookum!” 

Stopping the pokémon, Acerola turned to look back, pointing a finger towards herself. 

“Yeah, you. Your dad has a book about how to make this... reverse, right?” Guzma was trying to sound tough, but it masked poorly his awkward attempt on getting some reassurance.

“Not sure.” She answered him truthfully. From the corner of his eye, Nanu saw how his shoulders sank. 

“But this sort of thing is right up to my alley. I'll help you out in any way I can!” Flashing them one last smile, she turned her ride pokémon around and took off. 

Watching her receding form, Nanu waved her a good bye while Guzma stood with his hands tucked in his pockets. After she was gone, the kahuna cocked a brow at the boy.

“Spookum?” 

The kid just shrugged, a small, teasing grin playing on his lips.

“I couldn’t call her a creep, right?”

Nanu gave him a disapproving stare, but it was lost as the kid whirled around and took running towards the Pokémon Center. 

“Right.” He finally sighed, trailing after his smaller tracks in the sand. 

\--xx--

The rest of the evening unfolded uneventfully. They had a dinner, Nanu did the dishes and Guzma took care of his team by brushing his pokémon while they watched some TV together. When couple of the Meowths came looking for attention, he was nice enough to groom them too. All the while, the kid seemed to be wrapped in his thoughts, more so than normally but the kahuna didn’t ask. 

When Guzma suddenly claimed he was tired and bid him an early good night, Nanu retreated to his bedroom. Despite his words, Nanu noted how the light in the living room didn’t go out until long after the midnight. 

He was also staying up late. It had been his plan to burn some midnight oil and get a little late night reading done. Leaning against his pillows, the file he had carried with him laid abandoned on the floor and instead, the kahuna had engaged himself with filling a crossword puzzle. 

Pen stopping in the middle of writing a word, he was snapped out of his little hobby when his bedroom door was suddenly pushed open. Silently, he watched the kid peek his head through the doorway. He was about to step inside, but stopped when he realized that Nanu was observing him.

“Why are you still awake?” Taking off his reading glasses, Nanu frowned at him in question.

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep.” There was a short pause. “Is there… more books somewhere? I couldn’t find anything to read from the shelf.”

Guzma wasn’t really looking at him as he spoke. His gaze kept roaming his surroundings and he seemed to be more interested in the room itself. Well, Nanu’s bedroom was normally off-limits, the kid probably was just curious to snoop around a little.

“I’m afraid all the suitable reading material is in the bookshelf. Is the couch uncomfortable to sleep on?” 

He folded his glasses and extended his hand to put them on his nightstand. Almost knocking over his glass of water, he rested them next to his Z-Ring. Guzma observed this carefully, before replying:

“Nah, it’s not like that. I never sleep much.” Not waiting for the kahuna to answer, he quickly turned away.

“Well, it’s okay. I don’t have to read anything, I’ll figure out something else to do. Night.”

With that, his bedroom door was slammed shut again. Blinking slowly, Nanu scratched his cheek in thought.

That had been… strange. Trying to make something out of Guzma’s unexpected visit, his train of thought was interrupted when he felt a yawn rise to his lips.  
Suddenly the heavy feeling of sleepiness washed over him, and the kahuna gave up on analyzing the situation. He would ask about the couch again in the morning. Maybe check if there were any old books or magazines stored in the back of his office. 

An hour later, when Nanu was already fast asleep, his bedroom door was pushed open the second time and softly, someone sneaked in.

\--xx--

He woke up the next morning in rather peaceful manner. 

With a big yawn, Nanu stretched and rolled on his back. Mind still wrapped in sleepy stupor, his first conscious thought was how well rested he felt. Surprisingly so, considering how late he had stayed up. As he continued waking up, he suddenly realized he didn’t remember his alarm clock ringing.

Fumbling to grab the said piece of mechanics, he noticed two things; he had overslept and his alarm was already pushed to off-switch. Puzzled by this, he frowned. Maybe he had been so tired he had shut it in his sleep? It wasn’t like him, but…

Hand racking through his hair, he got up, clothed himself and proceeded to execute his morning routine. With a haunting feeling that something still wasn’t right, Nanu left his bedroom, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. 

His second surprise came when he found out his apartment was empty. For once, Guzma was already out of the bed and nowhere to be seen. Judging by his missing shoes, the kid had gone outside. This made a suspicious frown form on his forehead again, but after quickly checking his living quarters, nothing else seemed to be out of the ordinary. 

It wasn’t until after he had had a breakfast and was brushing his teeth that something caught his eye. Regarding his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he was clad in his normal attire, but something was missing. His wrist looked almost naked without his Z-Ring.

Spitting the toothpaste out of his mouth, his crimson eyes were burning as he growled: “Guzma!”

Hot bubbles of anger boiling in his stomach, the kahuna made a beeline towards the front door, ready to hunt down the pint-sized hooligan and claim his Z-Ring back.  
Instead, when he was about to grab the handle, his door was pushed open and a Team Skull grunt rushed in, bumping head-on against his chest. 

A pained huff escaped his lungs and for a second, everything was a mess of tangled limbs and two men trying to keep their balance. Taking support from the wall, Nanu realized this was the same one he had met during the storm. 

“You’re the one from the drugstore, aren’t you? What do you want?”

“There’s a..! * huff * * huff * And he just came out of nowhere I… I need you to… * huff *” The nervous grunt was unable to finish, too out of breath to make any sense. It was only fueling Nanu’s annoyance further. He was clearly upset about something, but the kahuna had his own troubles to deal with first. 

“Can’t it wait? I’m having a missing persons case to take care of.” He muttered darkly, but it was mostly aimed to himself. Now that he though back on it, it was obvious Guzma had been gaping at his Z-Ring. How could he have been so stupid to just leave it on his nightstand for taking? 

But the grunt just shook his head violently, grabbing his arm as the kahuna tried to squeeze past his doorway. 

“No, no! You’re looking…* huff * for a kid… right?” 

Before Nanu could pry the skull grunt away from his person, his mention of the kid certainly caught his attention. Turning a stern look on his visitor, he snapped in irritation:

“Where is he?”

He had to wait patiently until the grunt managed to calm down enough to explain properly what was going on. 

“Big sis… Big sis Plumeria told us you have some relatives kid spending the summer vacation here with you or something. And, and that we shouldn’t go near him to goof off or anything, but… He just showed up in the mansion on his own and now he’s getting his ass kicked!”

In that instant, Nanu felt his heart skipping a beat. The grunt was about to say something more, but it turned into a surprised squeak when the kahuna grabbed him by the shoulders, turning him roughly to face him. 

“What happened? Where is he?” He repeated, a sudden rush of adrenaline expelling his dark mood. 

“I’m not sure! I mean, I didn’t see him until the guys were dragging him down the stairs. I just came straight here to tell you!”

Nanu squinted in suspicion. “You’ve never even seen this boy before, why risk your own hide by coming here?” He asked. “If I know anything about snitches, they’re not very popular.” 

The youth was a little taken aback by this. His free hand sneaking to rub his neck, the grunt casted him a quick, almost shy glance. 

“Sure, but…I mean, he’s just some dumb kid. I dunno how he got inside, but he was probably just looking for something exciting to do. It’s not fair to harass him like that.” 

Searching his eyes for any trace of deceit, Nanu looked firmly at him. But the grunt didn’t seem to be lying. Maybe there were some good eggs in that basket of goons, too. 

Deciding to put his trust in him, the kahuna let him go and without a word, headed outside. 

The grunt followed his suit, exiting the Station. But instead of going after him, he lingered near the house, unwilling to go further. The old officer understood his situation well, the chances he would be taking Guzma’s place if he showed up with Nanu to rain on their parade were quite probable.

Facing the grunt one last time, Nanu flashed him his infamous crooked grin. “You’ve already done your part, I’ll take it from here.” He assured him.

“… Yeah. Okay.” With one more quick glance, he waved Nanu a short good bye, and they both headed to their separate ways. 

Even though it was in their agreement, Nanu hardly ever visited the Po Town. Team Skull had already conquered the place when he moved his bones in the abandoned Police Station, and he honestly didn’t care what those little vandals did with their free time, as long as it didn’t include any innocent onlookers.  
But now, as he approached the white walls that stood so tall they threatened to block the sky itself, he felt a dire need to get inside, post-haste.

That was the easy part. For once, as he arrived to the gates, there were no guards present, allowing the kahuna to simply walk inside. 

Following the stony steps that took him deeper into the heart of Po Town, Nanu let his gaze wander the dead streets. This was indeed a gang territory.  
Sniffing at the childish graffiti’s that sloppily decorated the streets and buildings like ugly tattoos, the only word Nanu could use to describe this place was a “dump”. And seemingly it was only going to get uglier.

In the middle of the main street was gathered a loose ring of what seemed like the majority of Team Skull.  
Most of the teens were howling loudly, their teeth bared in excited grins like canine fangs. Fists were raised in the air and meaningful looks exchanged. The ones who couldn’t get close enough were jumping on a broken down car, desperately trying to see what was happening in the center of the action. 

Not everyone was joining this fun however. On the outer ring lingered a smaller herd of unwilling participants. Compared to their more enthusiastic brothers and sisters, these kids were sharing nervous glances, brows ceased in worry. Like Mightyenas and Mareeps, Nanu couldn’t help but think as he laid his eyes on them.

But no matter which side they were on, all the teenagers were too focused on the main attraction to notice Nanu silently creeping closer and closer. Circling the group until he found a proper spot to peek inside, the kahuna straightened his back in order to get the best possible view. 

In the middle of the ring were two people. 

Standing with his hands tucked in his pockets and lips curved in a smug grin, a male grunt was looking rather pleased with himself.  
He was quite tall, taller than most of these kids, and while he wasn’t exactly muscular, he was heavily built. The second person was indeed Guzma. Unlike his companion, he was lying on his side on the ground, hand furiously wiping his face to his sleeve. Taking quick breaths, he was glaring at the guy who stood over him with murder in his eyes. 

At least his spirit wasn’t broken, Nanu thought as he watched a small trail of blood trickle from his nose before it was wiped off again. 

“You didn’t have to punch him, Jay…” One girl from the outer ring uttered. 

The grunt in question tore his gaze away from his prey for a second, aiming an arrogant glance on his female co-member. 

“Didn’t hafta punch him?” 

Eyes wandering back to Guzma, he watched the kid struggle to climb back on his feet.

“What do you think Boss had done to him if HE had found this brat snooping in his room, trying to steal his hard earned Z-Crystals?”

The thug took a long look over the crowd, before suddenly aiming a kick to sweep Guzma off of his feet. With a surprised yelp, he fell flat on his back on the ground again. 

“Why, I think he would beat this kid down to a dust.”

Nanu had had enough. He was just about to step in and put an end to their game before it turned into carnage, but stopped when Guzma suddenly stood up to his tormentor. 

“Yeah, keep barking you looser. You can shove me around, but do you have the guts to have a pokémon battle with me?”

Looking amused by his challenge, the grunt dropped down to crouch in front of the kid. 

“So, lemme get this straight. You want me to beat down both you AND your pokémon?”

When Guzma just glared at him, the youth chuckled. “Man, you’re either stupid or masochistic, kid.” Apparently he couldn’t resist his baiting. Grabbing Guzma by his jacket, he stood up, bringing the kid on his feet with him. 

“You’re on.”

Interested to see where this would go, Nanu crossed his arms. He would inspect the situation for a while longer.

Meanwhile, the two challengers took their positions. Showing off his “moves”, the grunt danced around for a while before tossing a pokéball high in the air. Soon, a Trubbish landed on the ground. 

On his opposite, Guzma silently composed himself and simply released his partner. A wave of excited whispers rose in the air when his Pinsir appeared in the ring. 

_He’s a bug type user too? You think he was trying to join Team Skull? Don’t be stupid, that’s Nanu’s relative, there’s no way! But Boss might actually like him…_

As the crowd’s attention was shifting towards Guzma, the wave of amazed whispers seemed to tick the grunt off. Clapping his hands together, he barked loudly:

“LADIES! Let’s focus on what’s important here!” 

Giving Guzma a low snarl, the grunt pointed a finger towards him.

“I’m gonna show you all what happens to naughty little brats who sneak in here and try to steal from our boy.”

It made Nanu click his tongue in distaste. So, this idiot was a glory hawk? He was trying to gather brownie points in order to impress his leader, even if it meant beating up a child? Had the situation had been less dire, the kahuna might’ve laughed at the irony of this. 

But the grunt was blissfully ignorant of who his opponent was. While he kept boasting, Guzma used this time and slipped his hand in his pocket, fumbling to grab something. It turned out to be a small bracelet.

Nanu, who in the heat of the moment had forgotten why he himself was after the kid, quirked his brow as something awfully familiar came to view. Swiping his thump over its bumpy surface once, Guzma proceeded to wear his stolen loot.  
He had to push Nanu’s Z-Ring over the arm of his hoodie, as it was otherwise too big for his hand. Seemingly he had already done some alterations on it too; the slot where his Darkinium Z normally rested was now replaced with a Buginium crystal. 

Somebody else was also paying attention on him. One of the girls standing close to Guzma gasped, before yelling: 

_HE HAS A Z-RING!_

You could hear the entire crowd simultaneously taking in an admiring breath. Observing their reaction, Nanu had to remind himself that these kids were the ones that had drawn the short end of the stick, and for most of them, holding a Z-Ring was something that happened only in their dreams.

Taking a nervous double look of his Z-Ring, his opponent seemed to realize what the kid was up. Trying to prevent what was about to come, he hurried to give his pokémon a command. 

“Trashy, attack with your mean Sludge!“

But he was too late. Almost feral glint passing his eyes, Guzma roared out his next words with such ferocity his voice echoed through the streets. 

“SAVAGE SPIN-OUT!”

Sneakers kicking into the pavement while his hands travelled through the air, Guzma executed perfectly the necessary dance movements to trigger the Z move, like he had been practicing for this moment all of his life. 

Nanu felt a spark of excitement bloom in his chest when the Buginium Z in his ring actually answered Guzma’s call. With a sharp buzz, the small shard lit up, its powerful gleam illuminating on the wet pavement.  
Watching the kid standing there, his back straight and his whole being oozing with of confidence, it was… interesting to witness someone else using his Z-Ring. It was like Acerola had said, Z-Rings didn’t have “one master”, but a certain level of emotion was always attached to them.

Guzma’s Pinsir was also starting to glow in a golden hue, the strength that stemmed from the bond between a pokémon and its trainer enveloping it with energy that’d help it unleash its fury. 

Everything was going accordingly, but then, without a warning the Z-Crystal zapped brightly before buzzing one last time. Its glow then got weaker and started to fade.

The kid was fast to notice this. A twist of horror taking over his face, Guzma lifted his writs to see what was happening. The last remains of the green shimmer reflected in his eyes before the Buginium Z shut down and once again became a piece of dead stone it was. 

Nobody had been expecting this. Each and every single grunt had fallen silent the moment Guzma started executing the feared Z-move. Still trapped in this trance, Po Town was so quiet you could hear the soft rain drumming on the pavement. 

Finally the grunt Guzma was facing broke into an ugly laugh. “What the hell was that? You have a Z-Ring that you can’t even use? Man, this kid is even worse clown than I thought.” 

Soon, the others followed his suit. 

_Oh man, what a rip-off! I’ve never seen anyone screw up a Z-move before. For a moment I thought he was kinda cool, but that kid is even worse than we are!_

The amazement was replaced with laughter. Even the ones who had joined Guzma’s torment reluctantly were now snickering next to Nanu. The kahuna ignored the mixture of feelings that tried to swell inside his chest, instead focusing a hard stare on the kid. 

While standing there as a public laughing stock, Guzma still hadn’t moved. Completely frozen to his place, his eyes were looking almost hollow as he kept staring at the crystal on his wrist.

“What are you going to do now?” Nanu whispered to himself. The fact he had failed wasn’t so important, but rather, how he was going to pick up the pieces.

Pinsir was also growing restless. Twisting its upper body, it gave Guzma a questioning click with its pincers. Watching the bug trying to connect with its trainer, the grunt threw it a mocking stare before stating: 

“Pffft, what a crybaby. Seems like your pokémon is just as pathetic as you are.”

That did the trick. As if someone had physically slapped him, Guzma’s head snapped up. For a second, he stared at the grunt with wide eyes. Then, untamed fury started pouring in those gray pools, filling his gaze with thunder. His hands squeezed into tight fists and Guzma screamed again, so loud it rumbled over their mocking yaps. 

“PINSIR! USE BRICK BREAK!”

Once launched into a fit of rage, Guzma was fast to reveal his true colors. Despite their failure to use the Z-Ring, Pinsir showed the same skill and strength it had while battling with Nanu’s Honcrow. And this time, his opponent wasn’t a kahuna either, but one badmouthed buffoon with no skill to his name. Trubbish didn’t last even for a minute.

As the grunt was forced to draw out his team to go against Pinsir, all of his choices proved to be a mixture of low level poison and fire types. While Guzma had the elemental weakness, one by one the bug knocked its opponents out like it was nothing. 

The grunt had been shocked for the first couple of rounds, and now he was starting to look desperate. His Salandit was his last pokémon to enter the battle and by the looks of it, it would soon be meeting the same fate as the others. Getting his whole team ripped apart by a mere 10-year old would be devastatingly humiliating. Nevertheless, the youth wasn’t giving up. 

Buffing his chest in a futile attempt to appear confident, the grunt snorted: “It’s your time to shine, Sazz! Teach that squirt a lesson with your crazy flames, yo!” 

This promised fiery inferno turned out to be nothing more than an ember. Guzma just eyed him darkly, before voicing his command monotonously.

“X-Scissor.”

Taking the small burst of fire head on, Pinsir seemed just as unimpressed as its trainer when it dived through the flames. With a brutish strength, it crushed its opponent between its horns before tossing the squealing lizard high in the air.

The Salandit flew like a ragdoll across the ring, before landing on its back with a pained scream. For a moment it looked like it was about to faint, but it managed to roll over and climb back on its feet. It was an act of pure stubbornness, however. Wobbling to keep its balance, its hind legs were already giving out. Guzma was just inches away from winning this fight

As their battle had taken an unexpected turn, the crowd around him was also starting to grow restless. No one had expected this weird intruder to be a tough challenger, and the Skull members were buzzing with worried whispers of how they would explain everything to their admin if the kid actually won. While the teens got louder by the minute, it was then that Nanu heard a faint sound of a pokéball opening and something flew over his head. 

The high screech was their only warning before a burst of flames emerged from the sky, hitting Pinsir from outside of the ring. Unable to dodge this surprise attack, the bug was enveloped in fire.

“Need a hand here, bro?”

Coming to view, another grunt pushed his way through the crowd and stepped inside the ring. Heading towards his friend, a Talonflame circled over his head, giving out a second shriek. 

The grunt, who had been visibly sweating while battling Guzma, relaxed at the sight of his backup entering the battle.  
Releasing yet another pokémon from its ball, the second grunt officially joined their fight. This time out came a Garbodor; seemingly this guy was a little more noteworthy trainer than his friend.

Meanwhile, kneeling on the ground, Pinsir wasn’t doing so well. There was a dark patch of smoldering shell on its back, which suspiciously looked like a burn. Their unexpected attack had been devastatingly successful.

The kahuna clicked his tongue in dismay, but he wasn’t surprised. From the beginning, he had had an itch they wouldn’t let Guzma win that easily. Playing dirty was the only quality these youngsters shined. 

The kid, however, was livid. Momentarily forgetting the unfortunate issue of his current age and how nobody seemed to recognize him, he still tried to act like he was the big and bad Boss of his gang. 

“What are you freaking numbskulls doing? How dare you?” Eyes wide in disbelief for this show of arrogance, he raised his fist towards them. The teens just found this exceedingly funny.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Forgot that you’re playing with the big boys?” His original opponent cooed.

“Yeah, you want a clean game, go back battling with your grandma!” 

While the two idiots high-fived each other, Talonflame and Garbodor took their position, surrounding Pinsir. It was now three against one.

Nanu had seen enough. Tapping the grunt blocking his way on the shoulder, he grinned as the guy turned to look at him.

“Excuse me.” 

“… OH SHIT!”

The reaction he was able to summon was cumulative. When one of the grunts realized Nanu was present, soon they all hurried to back away from him.

Making his way calmly through the path the grunts had cleared for him, the kahuna didn’t feel like he had to hurry in order to join the fun. His soon-to-be opponents were both gaping at him, trapped to their place like a couple of Deerlings in headlights. This didn’t apply on Guzma, however. 

For a second, the kid looked like he might’ve tried to bolt away, but the warning stared Nanu aimed at him was enough to hold him still. With a reluctant “tssk”, he accepted his fate. Busted, again. Coming to stand next to Guzma, Nanu extended his hand towards him.

“I’ll take that back now.” Despite his mellow tone, it wasn’t a plea but an order.

Knowing full well he had screwed up, the kid hurried to obey. Quickly swapping the Z-Crystal with Nanu’s own, Guzma dropped the ring out of his hand and gave it back to the kahuna.

The grunts kept eyeing their exchange curiously, frowning at each other in confusion. It made Nanu call out to them:

“Mind if I join you kids? It looks like you’re one player short.” 

Guzma looked surprised for his claim, but didn’t say anything. Neither of the grunts was stupid enough to sass him for his sarcastic retort either. His familiar Z-Ring wrapped around his wrist, the kahuna was ready for a battle. 

Taking a second to consider his choice, Nanu tossed out his ultra ball with a lazy flick of a wrist and a striped gator joined the fun. Appearing next to Pinsir, Krokorok snapped its yaws in intimidation. It successfully caused the opposing team to back away, clearing more room for their battle. 

Casting a small glance towards Guzma who stood at his side, Nanu could almost feel his crystal resonate his dark mood, calling him to use it. But this was not the time. He wanted to give the kid a small lesson in battling. 

Guzma, on his part, was also giving him fast looks. When it seemed Nanu wasn’t going to say anything, he turned to give his pokémon a command:

“Pinsir, use…” His words were cut when Nanu suddenly snapped his fingers at him. Startled, Guzma jerked back, blinking in confusion.

“Take it slow. Since we don’t have any water types in our use, first you need something to protect your pokémon from those flames.” As he spoke, Nanu’s eyes were fixed on the Talonflame. It was the only one of that pack that could do some actual damage.

“My Pinsir is more adapted in head-on combat. We don’t really have any moves to boost stats or anything.”

“Then switch it.”

Looking sour for being told what to do, Guzma still pulled his Pinsir out to switch it with Masquerain. Soon, the moth-like creature materialized in the air.

“Do Water Sport. “ Guzma uttered his second command and the pokémon wrapped itself in a thick veil of water. Chirping happily, it soaked its body. 

“Good. Now, it’s up to you to take care of that Talonflame. My Krokorok doesn’t do well with flying types, after all.”

Giving him a curt nod, Guzma begun their assault: “Masquerain, Energy Ball!”

A familiar sight of green energy gathering in front of it, the bug soon released its attack. To avoid being hit, Talonflame shot skywards, Masquerain following hot on its heels. Both of the flying pokémon soared high in the air, leaving the battle ring behind.

Satisfied with this, Nanu shifted his attention towards his own party member. While he had been busy guiding Guzma, the grunts had taken a head start. His Krokorok had been subjected to one of Garbodor’s sludge attacks, its muzzle now covered in thick slime. It was time for a payback. 

“Krokorok, use Swagger on that Salandit”

Shaking the last remains of black goo from its face, Krokorok swayed its body aggravatingly, enchanting its target with fury. 

Flames bursting from its marks, Salandit first shook its head violently in confusion, before jumping on Garbodors back and sinking its claws into its flesh. It probably didn’t hurt that big pile of garbage too much, but it worked just like Nanu had hoped. 

Disturbed by its ally’s scratches, Garbodor whirled around, trying to reach the small lizards with its tube-like hands. Salandit countered this by quickly scuttling away, aiming bursts of ember towards the offending limbs.

Meanwhile, the two grunts were flabbergasted at the sight of their pokémon attacking each other.

“What are you doing Sazz?! Stop attacking, that’s your bro!” Hand slapping on his temple, he yelled impatiently.

“Squash that lizard already and go for the Krokorok!” The other grunt growled.

“HEY! Don’t you dare to hurt my Salandit, yo!”

“But…”

While the grunts bickered, Nanu turned his eyes skywards. The actual battle was happening up there, after all.

Flying in tight circles, the two aerial pokémon were testing their strengths. It wasn’t a fair match however, and the bird was successfully menacing its much smaller opponent.  
Masquerain was showing good spirit, but it still barely managed to avoid the huge talons that constantly tried to grab onto it. The attacks were fierce, but there was a downside in breaking the rules and using two pokémon at the same time. Talonflame had to fight with its instinct only, as its trainer was… otherwise occupied. It gave Guzma a fair edge. 

“Nice job Masquerain! Now, use Icy Wind!” Guzma yelled, trying his best to encourage his pokémon.

Diving dangerously close, Masquerain successfully avoided being caught once again and released a burst of cold air. Talonflame screeched when the attack hit it in close distance, frost gathering around its body.  
Trying to counter the attack, the bird wrapped itself into a fiery vortex, but its flames failed to reach its wings. There was a small patch of frozen ice around its right wing that didn’t get expelled. It brought a grin to Nanu’s lips; there was some karma for you.

That being said, Masquerain still had to pay a price for its bold move. Not fast enough to fly away, it took a Flame Charge head on. 

A distressed yelp escaped Guzma’s throat as he watched the second time his pokémon being engulfed in the bird’s flames. Nanu also felt his heart beat fasten, waiting to see the outcome. 

To their equal relief, Masquerain managed to pull it off. A trail of smoke following after it, the bug sprinted away from the predatory birds reach.  
Even though the battle was happening high in the air, the kahuna could see water evaporating into steamy mist from all over its body. There went its protection, but without Water Sport, that attack alone would’ve been enough to finish Masquerain. 

Despite their slim escape of being knocked out, Guzma was getting anxious again. Fidgeting impatiently, he kept glaring angrily at their opponent, instead of trying to aid his own pokémon.  
Reading his body language, Nanu felt certain he hadn’t even noticed how successful their Icy Wind had been, and gave him a small hint.

“How about you use the damage your Masquerain caused to your advantage?”

Brows furrowing, Guzma threw him a quick glance, before squinting harder at the Talonflame. It took him a second, then: “Nice.” Slowly, a smile spread on his lips.

“Masquerain! Aim your Energy Ball on its right side and knock that dumb vulture down from the sky!” 

Nanu had been right. With its wing frozen, Talonflame’s speed had dropped drastically, allowing the bug type to take a free shot at it. A green ball of energy was released again, this time sweeping its target with it. Giving out one last shriek, Talonflame fell from the sky. 

As the bird’s unconscious body slammed hard on the ground, it was as if a magic spell had been broken. The quarreling pokémon, as well as their trainers, all stopped their bickering. 

Claiming the finishing touches for himself, Nanu grinned menacingly at them. Now that Guzma had taken down their main opponent, it was time to end this.

“Krokorok, Earthquake.”

His partner seemed to equally like the idea. Roaring out almost a jolly sound, Krokorok slammed its tail hard on the ground, creating a quake that shook the whole street. 

There wasn’t much you could after that. Getting swallowed in the earthquake, both Salandit and Garbodor faced the same fate as the Talonflame just moments ago. Before their fainted team members were lost in the grumbling earth, the grunts retrieved them back in their pokéballs. 

The pokémons weren’t the only ones suffering from their rejoice either. The teens, who had been following the fight in muted awe, shook along with the earth. Surprised yells and panicked screams emerged all around them as the entirety of Team Skull literally turned their tail and fled. 

Watching them bump into each other in their haste of getting away from the kahuna and his pokémon, Nanu felt a small drop of sweat forming on his brow.

… Maybe he had over done it a little. 

Nevertheless, the match was finally over and it resolved in their victory. And there was still one more deed left undone. 

Retrieving Krokorok back to its ball, the kahuna started walking calmly towards the two ruffians, his eyes glued on the one that had been menacing Guzma.  
Seemingly his intimidating approach was a little too much for the sidekick who had so eagerly joined his friend earlier. Now that the fun was over and it was time to pay the price, he was quick to show his underbelly. Pacing nervously back and forth, he took off before Nanu could come to arms reach. 

Luckily the one who had started this nonsense wasn’t as cowardly, it made things a lot easier for him. 

Waiting sullenly until the kahuna got close, the grunt blinked dumbly when Nanu offered his hand for shaking. “It’s polite to shake hands after a good match.” He told him curtly.

The grunt was right to be wary as he slowly extended his own hand in order to shake Nanu’s. First it seemed like the kahuna was going to accept it, but instead he ended up grabbing a fistful of the delinquent’s tank top, before pulling the surprised youth close to him. Whispering to his ear, he finally let his anger seep through his lips like venom:

“If anything like this happens again, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your youth behind the bars.” Maybe it was a little exaggerated, but what was the point of scaring the guy if he wasn’t doing a diligent job? 

He could hear the grunts breath hitch in rather satisfying manner, before letting him go. Fast, like Nanu’s touch had burned him, the youth leaped backwards, crouching down to keep his head low. 

“I assume I’ve made my point clear?”

“No! I mean YES! Yes, sir. Crystal.” Shrinking further under his burning gaze, he slowly kept backing away from the kahuna. When he was certain the older man wasn’t going to say anything more, he turned around and run off like there was no tomorrow.

With that last buffoon out of the way, all the members of Team Skull had vanished like whining Wimpods from the scene, not even a footprint was left behind. But as a testament to their battle, there was now a gaping hole in the middle the main street. The grunts would have grand old time trying to explain that to their admin. 

Not feeling guilty even a slightest, Nanu was also ready to leave Po Town in his dust. 

Turning towards the exit, he didn’t say anything to Guzma as he passed him, fair amount of frustration still stirring in his system. He was certain that the kid understood this, but he still heard small footsteps thudding after him, following in his wake. 

Then again, where else would he go? Guzma had been kicked out of his kingdom and his own had smitten him. 

\--xx--

With the stoic kahuna leading the way, their short trip from Po Town to his home ended almost too soon. Neither of them shared a word as the familiar sight of his Police Station came to view, but as soon as they got inside, the kid opened his mouth. 

“I was going to give it back, you know.” Snorting softly, he had the gall to sound almost accusing.

Taking his flip-flops off, Nanu didn’t answer him. 

“Don’t make a scene out of this old man. I only wanted to borrow it a bit, and I…!”

His babbling stopped when Nanu turned to meet his eyes. His mouth pursed in a tight line, that one disapproving stare was enough to make the brat drop his act. Breaking their eye contact, Guzma sighed and swallowed hard. 

Keeping up his silent treatment, the kahuna just shook his head and motioned Guzma to follow him. Not waiting to see if he obeyed or not, Nanu calmly crossed his apartment, making his way to the bathroom. The small cabinet under his sink had everything he needed to execute what was coming next.

While Nanu was busy searching the drawer for these wanted items, his ward arrived.  
During his short trip to the bathroom, all the fight had left Guzma. Now, as he stood in the doorway, he looked like he was marching to his own death. It made the kahuna ease his frown a little before he told him gruffly:

“Boy, I’m not going to eat you. Come here.”

Still hesitant to be in close quarters with him, the kid padded inside painfully slow, his hand bringing the door close. Nanu paid no attention in his stalling. Ripping open a packet of cotton pads, he gestured towards the closed lid of the toilet.

“Good. Now, sit. And take your jacket off.” 

There was a sound of a zipper being opened, before his hoodie collapsed into a dirty heap on the floor. A moment later, Guzma sat down, as far away from Nanu as possible. 

Dampening a cotton pad in antiseptic liquid, Nanu kneeled in front of him. As he leaned closer to inspect his wounds, Guzma avoided meeting his eyes.  
His whole face was a mess, and along with a still bleeding scrape on his elbow, the kahuna noted how his other nostril was looking suspiciously wet. At least it didn’t seem like anything needed stitching.

Nodding to himself, Nanu set to work. Using his free hand to lift Guzma’s chin, he started gently wiping the stains of mud and blood away. Hands squeezing the fabric of his shorts, Guzma sat perfectly still during this treatment, letting the kahuna tend to his wounds. Every now and then, there was a small hiss or sniff, but he didn’t openly complain. 

As the dirt scrubbed off, it became clear that the damage the kid had suffered looked worse than it actually was. He was covered in cuts and scratches from being tossed around, but the Skull idiot had had enough sense to go somewhat easy on him. His only significant injury was a large reddish-blue bruise that was starting to form on his cheekbone.

Once he was finished cleaning his wounds, Nanu moved to the next part. Peeling the package open with his teeth, he unwrapped first of the many band-aids he was going to need. 

When Nanu added one on his cheek, the kid closed his eyes and leaned against his touch. 

”I was going to give it back, I swear.” Nudging his fingers lightly, he tried again. This time, there was a trace of guilt in his voice.

Pausing to take a deep breath, Nanu sighed tiredly. ”Didn’t you learn anything from the malasada incident?” Considering the events during the past two hours, it was a rhetorical question. 

“OUCH!”

Nanu winched at the sudden scream.

”Cripes, kid. I’m not deaf.”

He said it, but the kahuna immediately tried to be even more gentle as he added the plasters on Guzma. They varied from a range of pink, purple and yellow, all having different kind of character themes. Purple ones with Drifloons, yellows with Combees and the ones he tried to add less than the others; pink with Skitties. 

… He had originally bought these in case Acerola was visiting and hurt herself, so sue him if they were a bit girly. 

Once he was all patched-up, Nanu took a step back and looked him up. The sight was absolutely miserable. He had a feeling there was something more on Guzma’s mind, other than being in trouble for ”lending” his Z-ring. Taking a wild guess, the kahuna questioned: 

”Was he a good friend of yours? The guy who roughened you up?”

”… No. I don’t even know who that was.”

Nanu gave the kid a blank stare. Some gang leader you are, not even knowing your own crew.  
He didn’t have to say it out loud, Guzma read his thoughts from his face. Wiping a fresh trickle of blood from his nose, he sniffed.

”We just had new recruits coming in, four days before this!” Gesturing to himself he explained.

” ’S not like I’m going to recognize every one of them right away….”

Fair enough. 

Hand reaching to grab the package, Guzma rolled up a small ball of cotton and stuffed it in his bleeding nostril. Trying to dig more reasons out of him, Nanu sat on the brim of the bathtub and crossed his arms. 

“So, why to sneak in the mansion? Getting homesick or something?”

Guzma just snorted. “Yeah, right. I had to go and grab one Buginium Z from my room.”

“And why would you even have one of those?” He had no Z-Ring after all, the kahuna saw no sense in owning a useless Z-Crystal.

“No reason, I just collect them.”

Trying to prop answers out of Guzma when he didn’t want to give anything away was like trying to catch smog with your bare hands. He was sure he would never hear what was bothering the kid so much, but was proven wrong. Nanu was taken off-guard when Guzma suddenly looked him squarely in the eyes and asked:

“There’s something wrong with me, isn’t there?”

Not following this sudden train of though, Nanu didn’t say anything. Despite his silence, Guzma carried on:

“Hala never let me have a Z-Ring of my own. He told me I lacked the “spirit” to use it, and before I figured out some deep stuff, he couldn’t give me one. I always thought he was bluffing but… “

Gaze dropping on the ring that was now back on its owners wrist, he finished with a sigh:

“I really can’t use it.”

Nanu had hard time countering that. In truth, even he had never seen a Z-Crystal dying in the middle of a performance before. And so, his next words were a gamble, but he had already made up his mind about this.

“Who knows? Maybe he is right, and you lack the spirit.” He didn’t have to see Guzma’s face to know his words cut deep, yet he wasn’t finished: “But the chances are, Hala could also be wrong. Instead of stealing them, why don’t you try and earn your own Z-Crystal? Maybe it’ll help you figure out what you need along the way.”

He was not Hala. He didn’t have his patience or his experience in giving guidance. He had never considered himself to be right material for that.  
But after what he had witnessed today, there was something that kept sparking his interest, like an itch he couldn’t scratch. Just like the first time when he battled with Guzma, there was a rush of excitement passing through his being, something he hadn’t felt in years. Something he hadn’t even realized he had been missing. Guzma was gutsy, almost to a point it was infuriating, and if that hardheadedness was pushed into a right direction, something interesting might come out.

“…Like, win a pokémon battle against you and get a crystal? I gave up on my island trials years ago.” Guzma frowned at him like he was trying to figure out what the catch was. Despite his company’s open skepticism, Nanu just shrugged.

“I don’t care if you’re doing that thing or not. I’m not big on the traditions, really. ”

“Pffft, well, what ever. I’ve already battled you once and we both know how that went.” Guzma muttered.

Pondering how he was going to word his next answer, the kahuna ended up being truthfully blunt: “I don’t think there is that big of a gap between us. As trainers, I mean.” 

Guzma’s brows shot up at this sudden revelation. Searching his face for an answer, he was clearly bewildered.

“Then why…?”

“Why I was able to kick your behind back to next Tuesday on Akala?” The kahuna grinned.  
Guzma threw him a dirty look, but his attempts of intimidation just made him look like an angry Poochyena. It was amusing, but now wasn’t a good time to keep ruffling his feathers.

“Your problem is that you loose your temper. The moment you feel like things aren’t going your way, you blow your fuse and try to bully your opponent into submission. Instead of going for that direction, if you just kept your cool and gave it a little thought, I bet things would turn out very differently.”

He did mean what he said. The kid had some talent, but it wasn’t enough. His bad temper was his biggest issue, both as a trainer and an individual. Even now, the way Guzma was scowling at Nanu’s bathroom rug was a testament to that. Unable to word his frustration, the kid just shrugged in exaggerated manner. 

“I could show you how to do it.” With a small smirk, the kahuna offered. He was about to add that it was all up to the kid, but Guzma spoke first: 

“You mean… To actually teach me how to battle against you?” 

Shaking his head, Nanu explained: “Not just me. To battle in a way you can bring out the best potential both you and your team have.”

While Guzma just stared at him in stunned silence, the kahuna added:

“But I must warn you, I’m nothing like your islands kahuna. I’m not a teacher or a master. If you want to get better, you have to work hard for it. No one’s going to chew it for you, but I can point you into a right direction.”

“That’s fine with me, I’m never looking to have a master again.” 

They fell silent for a moment. 

“Why? Why would you offer me something like that?” Guzma asked.

Nanu had his reasons. A small part of it was selfish; a wish to relive something he thought he had already lost. But the bigger portion, one that was a mystery to himself too… It was based on a gut feeling. The same kind that made him secure Guzma’s back while he knew he should be siding with Hala. No questions asked. 

Out loud, he told him: “Persian has been getting awfully lazy lately. Having a regular sparring partner should do it good.” It was somewhat true. His Persian hadn’t lost a battle in a while, and now the feline was getting too confident of its own skills. Having someone to put up a fierce fight would be a welcomed change. Plus he was sure its waist was getting a bit thicker…

The sudden reminder of food brought a terrifying realization upon him.

“Cat food!” 

Slamming his palms on his legs, Nanu bolted up. His sudden yell made Guzma jump up as well, and he stared Nanu in startled confusion.  
He had completely forgotten to feed his Meowths in the morning. Now their dinner was already hours late and if he kept the small devils waiting much longer, all hell would break loose.

Nanu was already hurrying out of the bathroom, but stopped when Guzma asked carefully:

”So, uh…You’re not mad about what happened?”

One smile included glare was enough to send the message. With a soft groan, Guzma grimaced. 

”Don’t worry. Watching you do some community service will help me to forget and forgive this little mishap.”

It took a second for his words to sink in. But once they did, it was in rather satisfying manner. ”WHAT!” Eyes big as saucers, Guzma shrieked. He looked absolutely horrified. 

”Rest up well tonight, we’ll get to that first thing tomorrow morning.”

With that, the kahuna finally slipped through the door. It was a case closed and justice would soon be served. His grin only widened when he heard Guzma moaning in despair:

”Drat!”

\--xx--

He hadn’t been kidding when he said they would start early. When the first Fearows started their morning calls, Nanu shooed the kid out of the bed and ordered him to take a shower. An hour later, the kahuna was up on the roof, balancing on top of a ladder. With a wet “splat”, he shucked a clump of leaves down. 

“This is stupid!”

Face twisted in disgust, Guzma scooped the mushy leaves up and quickly deposited them into an open garbage bag.

“Doing something useful for a change is not going to kill you. After we’re done here, you’ll get to clean the grass areas from clutter on route 15 and 16, all by yourself.” Nanu threw another fistful of dead leaves over the edge. This earned him a frustrated groan, but Guzma was playing along otherwise nicely.

While yesterday had been a stressful experience, there was one upside to all of this. Now, he didn’t have to ask Guzma’s help to clean after the storm. From his point of view, the place would practically tidy itself up. 

“Why do we have to clean the roof? Isn’t wind going to blow all this garbage away?”

“Wind doesn’t clean the gutters. Besides, we don’t want any of those branches to fall on an unsuspecting passer by.” 

“…You’re worried about your Meowths, aren’t you? They’re the only living things that willingly hang around here.” The kid accused, sounding bored. 

Deeming his gutters passable, Nanu straightened his back for a short break. Gaze wandering in the distance, his lips curved lightly as he spotted something familiar heading down the road and towards his Station. 

“A Meowth, certainly. And occasionally a young lady, too.” 

Guzma also turned his head to see what was coming. Plumeria and Golisopod were still merely silhouettes at the other end of the road, yet unmistakable in their approach. Once close enough, she cupped her hand around her mouth and yelled: “No fair, you ruined my surprise!”

Arriving in front of the house, the Skull admin took in the sight of rather sheepish Guzma, standing there in his work attire. He was wearing Nanu’s old t-shirt again, since the kahuna had claimed his new clothes too nice for all the dirty work he was supposed to get done. 

“Nice bandages.”

“Can it Plumes!”

Before they could exchange anything else, Golisopod charged in. Seeing its trainer after being apart for days, the big bug launched itself towards the boy. Guzma’s own smile revealed his excitement, he was clearly as impatient to get in touch with his favorite team member. 

Running to meet the bug in the middle, Golisopod dived down, allowing Guzma to half-climb over its head before lifting the kid up. Running his palms over its back, he rubbed its shell in broad circles.  
While those two got rowdy, Nanu also climbed down from the roof to properly greet the Skull admin. Using the moment to light himself a cigarette, he nodded at the girl.

“I see you made it through the storm.” 

With a small glint of mischief passing her eyes, she deadpanned: “Yeah, I did. With no help whatsoever.”

Nanu just grunted silently. He had a feeling she would keep taunting him with that for a long while. 

The moment was interrupted by a small laugh. Face split in a wide grin, Guzma was in the air for a moment, before landing on his belly. Golisopod was playfully bouncing him up and down on its back, like he was riding the bug in a rodeo.

“Don’t toss him around too much! He already looks like he went through a shredder.” Plumeria yelled at the duo, while raising a brow at the kahuna. It was her silent way of asking “What The Heck?”. Aiming his eyes in the sky, Nanu took a deep drag of his cigarette.

“…It’s a long story.”

He was saved from any follow-up questions when Guzma suddenly made an announcement:

“By the way Plumes, I think I wanna swap my team.” He informed, sliding down from Golisopod’s back.

“Gurrrppp!” The bug immediately protested, gurgling small foam of bubbles. Nanu just blinked at it with a twist of awe. How could anything that only whirred and burped bubbles sound so rejected and offended at the same time, he didn’t know.

Guzma, on the other hand, seemed to understand it perfectly well.

“Not you dummy, you stay with me. But Pinsir and Masquerain could use some time away from he cats.” He bumped his fist lightly against the isopods stomach, which earned him a relieved whiz. 

With that, Guzma turned to give his admin a questioning stare.

“Fine with me.” She agreed. 

After that, they didn’t stay for long. Claiming she had to get herself a Komala Coffee, they headed back towards the Pokémon Center on route 16. Guzma let her lead the way, stalling near the Station for a while. When Plumeria was out of the earshot, he turned to address Nanu. 

“I’ll, uh, collect the trash on my way back, okay? I want to catch up with her a little.” He whispered. Quickly tucking an extra garbage bag in his pocket, he gave the kahuna a pleading look.

“I’ll be checking your progress later today, keep that in mind.” With a deep hum, he relented. There was enough work to keep him busy for a while, after all. One little break couldn’t hurt. 

Nanu didn’t miss the quick insult Guzma made at him by sticking his tongue out, but nevertheless, the kid seemed pleased. Watching the assorted trio head down the dirt road, he suddenly realized something.

They never agreed on it, verbally. No handshakes, no festivities, nothing. Their promise was made in silence, yet it was as good of a vow as any other. From now on, along with everything else, he would also be guiding the kid in the complicated art of being a pokémon trainer. 

And while the kahuna wouldn’t say he was excited by the idea, there was a small, tingling feeling in his palms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading chapter 6! It's been a while since the last update, life has been really busy for me.
> 
> And wow, must be something wrong with me because I can't write shorter chapters. x'D  
> But I really hope you liked it! 
> 
> Also, exciting announcement, for the first time ever I have a beta reader for my fick! A non-english one, but they're still a great aid. ^w^
> 
> Onwards to the next chapter, and like always, all comments are greatly appreciated. <3


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